3T3 


JUNIOR  THBMOPMCAL  FR  ATBtSXTf 


The  Law  of  Human 
Life 

The  Scriptures  in  the  Light  of  the  Science  of 
Psychology 


By 

Elijah  V.  Brookshire 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

Cbe    fmicfcerbocfter   press 

1916 


COPYRIGHT,  1916 

BY 
ELIJAH   V.    BROOKSHIRE 


Ube  fmicberbocfcer  preae,  flew  K?orfc 


THIS  BOOK  IS 

AFFECTIONATELY   DEDICATED  TO 
THE   MEMORY   OF   MY   DECEASED   MOTHER, 

WHO  FAITHFULLY  DID  WHAT  SHE  COULD  TO  MAKE  ME 

A  GOOD  GOD-FEARING  BOY  AND  MAN. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


£019729 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION v 

CHAPTER 

I. — THE  ALLEGORY  OF  ADAM,  EVE,  AND  THE 

SERPENT i 

i.    ADAM,     EVE,     AND    THE    SERPENT, 
PRINCIPLES   INHERENT  IN  THE  SOUL 

OF  MAN 3 

n.    CAIN,  ABEL,  AND  SETH       ...  20 

in.    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  GENERATIONS  OF 

ADAM:  THE  BOOK  OF  REAL  MEN  .  34 

II. — NOAH,  HIS  ARK,  AND  THE  FLOOD  ...  44 

III. — ABRAHAM,  THE  HEBREW     ....  75 

IV. — ISAAC:    THE  STORY  OF  THE  IDEAL  FATHER, 

MOTHER,  AND  CHILD       .         .         .         .114 

V.— JACOB 145 

VI.— JOSEPH 191 

VII. — MOSES 229 

VIII.— ELIJAH 296 

IX. — JONAH  THE  PROPHET          ....  330 

X. — JOHN  THE  BAPTIST 350 

XI. — JESUS  OF  NAZARETH            ....  370 

XII.— PAUL 433 


iii 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  historical  method  of  interpreting  the  Scrip- 
tures is  discredited.  This  book  submits  a  psycho- 
logical interpretation.  Emerson  evidently  stated  an 
axiom  in  science,  when  he  said:  "Whenever  a  true 
theory  appears,  it  will  be  its  own  evidence.  Its  test 
is  that  it  will  explain  all  phenomena."  It  stands  to 
reason  that  no  truth,  no  principle,  in  the  universe  of 
God,  is  at  war  with  any  other;  all  truths  coalesce;  all 
truths  exist  in  unity.  To  deny  this  is  to  deny  the 
divine  order  that  is  so  manifest  in  all  the  works  of 
nature ;  and  of  which  science  furnishes  abundant  proof. 
Of  course,  it  is  entirely  possible  to  conceive  how  texts 
of  Scripture  might  be  incorrectly  interpreted,  though 
the  theory  of  interpretation  was  correct;  but  it  would 
be  difficult  indeed  to  conceive  how  passages  of  it  could 
be  correctly  interpreted  if  the  theory  of  interpreta- 
tion be  erroneous.  To  illustrate,  it  is  entirely  possible 
to  understand  how  an  astronomer  might  err  in  the  solv- 
ing of  problems  when  following  the  Heliocentric  theory; 
but  it  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  how  one  could 
correctly  solve  astronomical  problems  when  acting  in 
obedience  to  the  Ptolemaic  theory.  It,  therefore,  fol- 
lows that,  if  the  Scriptures  are  to  yield  their  content, 
and  are  to  be  relied  upon  as  pointing  the  way  of  human 
salvation,  they  should  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  a 
true  theory. 

Then  the  question:  Do  the  Scriptures  describe  and 


vi  Introduction 

explain  the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  Law  of 
its  orderly  evolution?  We  affirm  unqualifiedly  that 
they  do;  and  that  religion,  therefore,  is  not  founded 
upon  any  form  of  abstract  metaphysical  dogma,  but 
upon  principles  that  have  relation  to  the  nature  of  the 
human  soul  itself.  Scientifically  speaking,  it  may  be 
said  that  religion  announces  certain  postulates  of  belief, 
that  may  be  realized  in  consciousness,  to  wit :  that  God 
is;  that  the  human  soul  is;  that  the  human  soul  has 
its  Law ;  and  that  this  Law  is  susceptible  of  fulfilment ; 
and  that  there  is  a  spiritual  kingdom  that  transcends 
the  sensuous  animal  kingdom  of  the  world. 

It  is  certainly  true  that  religious  and  political  thought 
is  now  in  a  state  of  great  confusion  and  disorder.  This 
unsettled  state  of  thought  is  evidently  pronounced  and 
wide-spread ;  and  is  most  in  evidence  in  those  countries 
where  scientific  institutions  are  most  prevalent  and 
influential.  Colossal  armies  of  many  powerful  nations 
are  now  in  a  death  grapple  on  the  continent  of  Europe 
to  eliminate  and  destroy,  the  power  and  influence  of 
effete  ideas  and  institutions;  and  let  us  hope  that  on  the 
ruins  of  a  passing  civilization  there  will  be  builded 
a  new  and  better.  Perhaps  the  conflict  in  Europe, 
appalling  as  it  is,  will  have  a  powerful  influence  in 
transforming  a  socialism,  which  rests  on  the  basis  of 
conflicting  beliefs  and  interests,  represented  by  the 
sensuous  animal  world,  into  a  socialism  which  rests  on 
the  belief,  on  the  consciousness,  of  a  Spiritual  kingdom, 
the  kingdom  that  represents  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  "My  kingdom  is  not 
of  this  world:  if  my  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then 
would  my  servants  fight"  (John  18:36).  "Have  we 
not  all  One  Father?  Has  not  One  God  created  us  all?  " 
(Mai.  2:10). 


Introduction  vii 

War,  like  all  overt  acts  of  violence,  is  but  an  ultima- 
tion  of  the  evil  and  inharmony  which  exist  in  the  souls 
of  men ;  this  evil  and  wickedness  when  ultimated  makes 
warfare  possible  and  actual.  George  Fox,  the  founder 
of  the  Society  of  Friends  (Quakers),  when  urged  to 
enter  the  army  writes  in  his  journal:  "I  told  them  I 
knew  whence  all  wars  arose,  even  from  the  lusts,  ac- 
cording to  James's  doctrine;  and  that  I  lived  in  the 
virtue  of  that  life  and  power  that  took  away  the  occa- 
sion of  all  wars.  .  .  .  They  said  I  should  go  for  a 
soldier;  but  I  told  them  I  was  dead  to  it." 

As  long  as  the  great  mass  of  mankind  in  the  several 
races  and  nations  of  the  world  do  not  "live  in  the  vir- 
tue of  that  life  and  power  that  takes  away  the  occasion 
of  wars,"  there  will  be  violence  and  war  in  families, 
and  between  the  people  of  the  same  nation,  and  among 
people  of  different  nations.  Lectures  and  sermons  on 
peace  and  good-will  among  men  fall  on  deaf  ears  as 
long  as  the  people  cultivate  in  their  hearts  the  worldly 
spirit  which  discloses  itself  in  malice,  hate,  revenge, 
lust,  hypocrisy,  greed,  lies,  and  murder.  They  who 
sow  the  seed  of  Satan  are  destined  to  reap  what  they 
sow.  "Be  not  deceived;  God  is  not  mocked;  for  what- 
soever a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap"  (Gal. 
6:  7).  It  stands  to  reason,  that  all  races  and  nations 
of  men  must  come  to  believe  and  acquiesce  in  one 
common  form  of  religious  belief,  one  "common  faith" 
(Titus  1:4),  one  "common  salvation  "  (Jude  3),  before 
there  can  be  a  real  unity  and  brotherhood  among  the 
people  of  the  several  races  and  nations  of  the  world. 
In  a  word,  religion  will  not  attain  to  its  own  until  it 
presents  a  theory  entirely  scientific;  and  which  leads 
men  to  believe,  and  to  realize  in  consciousness,  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 


viii  Introduction 

"The  fundamental  unity  of  men  in  the  family  of  God 
is  the  one  enduring  reality."  This  was  the  affirmation 
of  the  Friends  (Quakers)  in  England  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  in  August,  1914,  between  the  people  of  their 
country  and  those  of  Germany.  Thou  art  "the  God 
of  Peace  who  lovest  Thy  creatures." 

In  a  book  recently  published  (1914),  entitled  The 
Church,  the  People,  and  the  Age,  edited  by  Robert  Scott 
and  George  W.  Gilmore,  are  contributions  from  one 
hundred  and  five  teachers  and  writers,  many  of  whom 
stand  in  the  very  forefront  in  the  Western  world  as 
teachers  of  philosophy  and  of  religion.  The  contribu- 
tions of  these  famous  scholars  and  teachers  found  in  this 
composite  book  are  directed  in  the  main  to  answering 
questions  like  the  following :  Why  so  many  people  do 
not  go  to  church?  Do  the  creeds  debar  men  from 
Christianity?  Where  shall  we  look  for  a  fundamental 
theology?  Perhaps  the  tone  of  this  book  of  so  many 
famous  authors  may  be  summed  up  in  two  sentences 
taken  from  the  contributions  of  Dr.  Rudolf  C.  Eucken, 
Professor  of  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Jena, 
Germany;  and  of  Professor  Chamberlain  of  Worcester, 
Mass.  The  first  essay  in  this  book,  which  is  denomi- 
nated the  Introduction,  is  by  Dr.  Eucken,  and  his  first 
sentence,  which  seems  so  expressive  of  the  contents  of 
the  volume,  is  as  follows:  "There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  churches  of  to-day  do  not  satisfy  the  religious  needs 
of  mankind."  Professor  Chamberlain  speaks  in  accord 
with  the  general  tone  of  the  book,  when  he  says:  "The 
idea  that  'something  is  wrong  with  the  Church*  is 
in  the  air,  and  nothing  that  the  Church  has  done  in 
recent  years  seems  to  have  met  the  situation."  No- 
thing, it  would  seem,  could  more  perfectly  demon- 
strate the  utter  confusion  of  religious  thought  in  the 


Introduction  ix 

Western  world,  than  the  opinions  expressed  in  this 
book. 

The  loss  of  influence  by  the  churches  is  not  recent, 
nor  spasmodic,  nor  can  it  be  attributed  to  superficial 
causes.  The  power  and  influence  of  the  churches  are 
waning  because  their  creeds,  their  alleged  doctrines,  do 
not  appeal  to  philosophic  minds ;  and  since  the  churches 
assume  to  teach  the  plan  of  salvation  announced  in 
the  Scriptures,  the  loss  of  confidence  in  the  churches 
has  in  many  instances  caused  a  loss  of  confidence  in 
the  Scriptures.  The  loss  of  influence  of  the  churches, 
especially  in  the  Western  world,  is  measured  by 
the  broadening  and  on-sweeping  currents  of  scientific 
thought.  That  old  forms  of  religious  thought  were 
at  war  with  scientific  knowledge,  and  were  growing 
weaker,  was  observed  by  many  philosophic  minds  more 
than  fifty  years  ago;  and  there  were  a  few  rare  souls,  like 
William  Ellery  Channing,  who  had  the  genius  to  see 
the  degraded  state  of  religious  knowledge  even  one 
hundred  years  ago. 

Dr.  Channing,  in  a  discourse  delivered  in  1829,  on 
The  Character  and  Writings  of  Fenelon,  when  describing 
what  he  called  "the  degraded  state  of  religion,"  said: 

Religion  is  thought  a  mystery,  which,  far  from  coalescing, 
wars  with  other  knowledge.  It  is  never  ranked  with  the 
sciences  which  expand  and  adorn  the  mind.  It  is  regarded 
as  a  method  of  escaping  future  ruin,  not  as  a  vivifying  truth 
through  which  the  intellect  and  the  heart  are  alike  to  be 
invigorated  and  enlarged.  Its  bearing  on  the  great  objects 
of  thought  and  the  great  interests  of  life  is  hardly  suspected. 
This  degradation  of  religion  into  a  technical  study,  this 
disjunction  of  it  from  morals,  from  philosophy,  from  the 
various  objects  of  liberal  research,  has  done  it  infinite  injury, 
has  checked  its  progress,  has  perpetuated  errors  which 


x  Introduction 

gathered  around  it  in  times  of  barbarism  and  ignorance, 
has  made  it  a  mark  for  the  sophistry  and  ridicule  of  the 
licentious,  and  has  infused  a  lurking  scepticism  into  many 
powerful  understandings.  .  .  .  Religion,  if  it  be  true,  is 
central  truth,  and  all  knowledge  which  is  not  gathered 
round  it,  and  quickened  and  illumined  by  it,  is  hardly 
worthy  the  name.  To  this  great  theme  we  would  summon 
all  orders  of  mind,  the  scholar,  the  statesman,  the  student 
of  nature,  and  the  observer  of  life. 


Prof.  John  M.  Coulter,  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
a  man  deservedly  famous  for  his  scientific  attainments, 
in  his  contribution  to  the  book,  The  Church,  the  People, 
and  the  Age,  said:  "It  is  obvious  that  if  Jesus  is  to 
be  taken  as  the  embodiment  of  religion — certainly  he 
could  not  be  as  the  embodiment  of  dogmatic  theology — 
the  association  of  reason  and  religion  is  to  be  insisted 
upon.  According  to  him  we  are  to  use  the  mind  as 
well  as  the  heart  in  the  service  of  God  and  our  neighbor. 
This  means  that  religion  cannot  include  anything 
that  reason  rejects;  that  all  of  the  triumphs  of  reason 
must  be  consistent  with  religion."  There  seems  to  be 
a  marked  similarity  between  the  views  of  Dr.  Channing 
of  1829,  and  those  of  Professor  Coulter  of  1914.  They 
both  insist  that  the  mind  as  well  as  the  heart  is  to  find 
a  free  and  full  expression  in  religion.  In  a  word,  that 
all  the  constituent  powers  of  the  soul  of  regenerate 
man  must  find  a  free  and  full  expression.  This  is  self- 
evident  ;  for  the  end  and  aim  of  religion  is  the  perfection 
of  the  soul  of  man.  Philosophic  minds,  like  those  of  Dr. 
Channing  and  Professor  Coulter,  have  greatly  increased 
in  number  and  influence  during  the  past  hundred  years ; 
and  their  dissent  from  what  we  may  call  the  "theologi- 
cal method  "  of  teaching  religion  has  well-nigh  destroyed 


Introduction  xi 

the  influence  of  the  Church  with  those  who  are  enam- 
ored of  the  scientific  method  of  thought. 

John  Stuart  Mill,  in  his  Autobiography,  written  about 
the  year  1861,  said: 

I  am  now  convinced,  that  no  great  improvements  in  the 
lot  of  mankind  are  possible,  until  a  great  change  takes 
place  in  the  fundamental  constitution  of  their  modes  of 
thought.  The  old  opinions  in  religion,  morals,  and  politics, 
are  so  much  discredited  in  the  more  intellectual  minds  as 
to  have  lost  the  greater  part  of  their  efficacy  for  good,  while 
they  still  have  life  enough  in  them  to  be  a  powerful  obstacle 
to  the  growth  of  any  better  opinions  on  these  subjects. 
When  the  philosophic  minds  of  the  world  can  no  longer 
believe  in  its  religion,  or  can  only  believe  it  with  modifica- 
tions amounting  to  an  essential  change  of  its  character,  a 
transitional  period  commences,  of  weak  convictions,  para- 
lyzed intellects,  and  a  growing  laxity  of  principle,  which 
cannot  terminate  until  a  renovation  has  been  effected  in 
the  basis  of  their  belief  leading  to  the  evolution  of  some 
faith,  whether  religious  or  merely  human,  which  they  can 
really  believe.  And  when  things  are  in  this  state,  all  think- 
ing or  writing  which  does  not  tend  to  promote  such  reno- 
vation, is  of  very  little  value  beyond  the  moment.  Since 
there  is  little  in  the  apparent  condition  of  the  public  mind, 
indicative  of  any  tendency  in  this  direction,  my  views  of 
the  immediate  prospects  of  human  improvement  were  not 
sanguine.  More  recently  a  spirit  of  free  speculation  has 
sprung  up,  giving  a  more  encouraging  prospect  of  the 
gradual  mental  emancipation  of  England;  and  concurring 
with  the  renewal  under  better  aspects,  of  the  movement  for 
political  freedom  in  the  rest  of  Europe  has  given  to  the 
present  condition  of  affairs  a  more  hopeful  aspect. 

Science  has  multiplied  its  converts,  and  enlarged 
its  field  of  operations  enormously  during  the  last  fifty 


xii  Introduction 

years,  or  since  Mr.  Mill  wrote  his  autobiography. 
People  who  are  enamored  of  scientific  knowledge 
comprehend  principles  in  a  more  or  less  distinct  way, 
and  are  not  satisfied  to  rest  their  beliefs,  in  matters  of 
serious  concern,  on  what  others  may  say  or  believe. 
They  are  not  satisfied  with  religious  authority;  they 
are  not  disposed  to  believe  in  the  Scriptures,  because 
they  are  told  that  they  were  given  to  the  people  of  the 
world  by  this  or  that  person,  or  because  they  have 
been  approved  by  this  or  that  man,  or  body  of  men,  or 
institution.  Such  minds  do  not  find  pleasure  and  edifi- 
cation in  the  Scriptures  because  of  their  legendary, 
historic,  and  personal  features;  but  many  such  do  find 
inexpressible  comfort  and  edification  in  the  Scriptures 
because  they  behold  in  them  ideas  and  principles  essen- 
tially scientific  and  glorious,  principles  that  bespeak 
the  immortality  of  the  human  soul. 

The  mental  attitude  of  those  who  dissent  from  the 
historical  method  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures  is,  per- 
haps, fairly  stated  in  a  remark  attributed  to  the  late 
Theodore  Parker,  of  New  England:  "It  seems  difficult 
to  conceive  any  reason  why  moral  and  religious  truths 
should  rest  for  their  support  on  the  authority  of  their 
revealer  any  more  than  the  truths  of  science  on  that 
of  him  who  makes  them  known  first  or  most  clearly." 
They  of  the  school  of  science  insist  that  nothing  is  to 
be  accepted  as  true  that  contradicts  reason;  and  that 
no  science  is,  or  can  be  founded  upon  historical  events 
and  incidents.  History  deals  with  events  in  time, 
science  with  principles.  Principles  exist  above  time 
and  place;  they  have  no  anniversary;  they  are  eternal; 
they  are,  therefore,  not  dependent  upon  the  local, 
the  passing,  and  the  temporary.  If  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures are  to  survive  the  mutations  of  time,  it  must  be 


Introduction  xiii 

for  the  reason  that  they  announce  principles.  "Know 
this  first,  that  no  prophecy  of  the  Scripture  is  of  any 
private  interpretation"  (2  Peter  1:20). 

The  author  of  this  book  submits  a  psychological 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures;  and  so  denominates 
his  interpretation,  because  the  Scriptures  in  their  essen- 
tial nature  are  psychological,  and  not  historic.  The 
Scriptures  assume  to  teach  the  nature  of  the  human 
soul  and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its  orderly  evolution. 
Buckle,  in  his  very  estimable  work,  The  History  of 
Civilization  in  England  (vol.  i.,  chap.  8),  when  reviewing 
the  philosophy  of  Descartes,  said:  "The  theological 
method  rests  on  ancient  records,  on  tradition,  on  the 
voice  of  antiquity.  The  method  of  Descartes  rests 
solely  on  the  consciousness  each  man  has  of  the  opera- 
tions of  his  own  mind."  Thus  it  will  be  observed  that 
what  Buckle  calls  the  "theological  method"  is  identi- 
cal with  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  the  historic  method. 
The  theological  or  historic  method  attaches  great  im- 
portance to  events  in  time,  and  tends  toward  an  idol- 
atrous exaltation  of  individuals.  The  scientific  method 
or  what  is  the  same,  the  psychological,  is  not  specially 
concerned  with  events  in  time,  nor  does  it  tend  to  the 
adoration  of  the  individual,  but  its  work  and  office  is 
the  ascertainment  of  principles.  It  is  forever  asking 
the  questions:  What  is  the  Law?  What  is  the  divine 
order  revealed  in  the  object  investigated?  This  method 
when  applied  to  the  Scriptures  asks  questions  like  the 
following:  Is  man  a  living  soul?  Do  the  Scriptures 
teach  the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  mode  and 
manner  of  its  orderly  evolution?  Jesus,  when  he 
spoke  of  the  great  master,  Moses,  honored  him  as  the 
giver  of  the  Law.  "Did  not  Moses  give  you  the  Law, 
and  yet  none  of  you  keepeth  the  Law?  Why  go  ye 


xiv  Introduction 

about  to  kill  me?"  Qohn  7:19).  The  Law  inhibits 
murder,  and  all  manner  of  evil.  Jesus  like  all  the 
great  was  not  specially  concerned  with  the  personal, 
the  passing,  and  the  local.  "Master,  we  know  that 
thou  art  true,  and  teachest  the  way  of  God  in  truth, 
neither  carest  thou  for  any  man:  for  thou  regardest 
not  the  person  of  men"  (Matt.  22:  16).  Jesus  Christ 
stood  for  principles.  "Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass 
away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away"  (Mark  13 : 31). 
If  religion  is  founded  upon  principles  inherent  in  the 
human  soul,  then  all  forms  of  religion  founded  upon 
metaphysical  abstractions  and  historical  data  are 
doomed.  Dr.  Channing  said  again  and  again:  "We 
must  start  in  religion  from  our  own  souls.  In  these  is 
the  foundation  of  all  divine  truth."  This  idea,  so 
much  in  evidence  in  his  sermons,  lectures,  and  letters 
to  friends,  is  perhaps  the  reason  for  numerous  utter- 
ances like  the  following : 

The  time  is,  perhaps,  coming,  when  all  our  present  sects 
will  live  only  in  history.  .  .  .  We  profess  to  believe  that 
candid  and  impartial  research  will  guide  mankind  to  a 
purer  system  of  Christianity  than  is  now  to  be  found  in  any 
church  or  country  under  heaven.  .  .  .  Every  church  in 
Christendom  has  its  errors  and  perhaps  errors  which  to 
future  ages  may  seem  as  gross  as  many  earlier  superstitions 
appear  to  the  present  generation.  ...  I  apprehend  that 
there  is  but  one  way  of  putting  an  end  to  our  dissensions; 
and  that  is,  not  by  the  triumph  of  any  existing  system  over 
all  others,  but  the  acquisition  of  something  better  than  the 
best  we  now  have.  The  way  to  reconcile  men  who  are 
quarreling  in  a  fog  is,  to  let  in  some  new  and  brighter  light. 
It  seems  to  me  that  we  are  fighting  in  a  low,  misty  valley. 
A  man  who  should  gain  some  elevated  position,  overlooking 
our  imagined  heights  of  thought,  and  would  lead  us  after 


Introduction  xv 

him,  would  set  us  all  right  in  a  short  time.  ...  I  have  for 
many  years  had  a  deep  feeling  of  the  present  degraded 
state  of  moral  and  religious  science.  ...  I  hope  nothing 
from  increased  zeal  in  urging  an  imperfect,  decaying  form 
of  Christianity.  One  higher,  clearer  view  of  religion  rising 
on  a  single  mind  encourages  me  more  than  the  organization 
of  millions  to  repeat  what  has  been  repeated  for  ages  with 
little  effect.  .  .  . 

These  utterances  of  Dr.  Charming  are  taken  from 
his  Memoirs.  They  were  published  during  the  active 
years  of  his  ministry  extending  from  1810  to  1842,  the 
year  of  his  death;  and  they  represent,  as  we  believe, 
a  fair  sample  of  the  views  of  this  chaste  and  illustrious 
clergyman  (Channing's  Memoirs,  vol.  i.,  pp.  314,  396, 
416;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  281,  327,  395). 

Moreover  it  seems  fit  to  recall  the  name  of  John 
Robinson,  a  name  to  be  held  in  everlasting  remem- 
brance, and  his  exhortation  to  his  people  when  tak- 
ing leave  of  them,  in  July,  1620.  He  admonished  his 
people  to  live  worthy  of  the  truth,  and  thus  be  prepared 
to  receive  a  higher  revelation;  for  he  expressed  the 
confident  belief  that  the  Lord  had  more  truth  yet  to 
break  forth  out  of  His  holy  Word.  Less  than  a  century 
after  the  passing  of  Robinson,  that  princely  man  of 
reason,  Joseph  Butler,  whose  writings  still  stand  as  a 
model  to  students  of  logic  and  pure  reason,  was  born. 
It  seemed  that  this  rare  genius  entertained  views  like 
those  of  the  prophetic  Robinson;  for  in  his  Analogy  of 
Religion,  Natural  and  Revealed  published  in  1736  (Part 
ii.,  chap.  3)  is  the  following  suggestive  observation: 

And  as  it  is  owned  that  the  whole  scheme  of  Scripture  is 
not  yet  understood,  so,  if  it  ever  come  to  be  understood, 
before  the  restitution  of  all  things  (Acts  3:  21)  and  without 


xvi  Introduction 

miraculous  interpositions,  it  must  be  in  the  same  way  as 
natural  knowledge  is  come  at;  by  the  continuance  and  pro- 
gress of  learning  and  of  liberty,  and  by  peculiar  persons, 
attending  to,  comparing  and  pursuing,  intimations  scat- 
tered up  and  down  it,  which  are  overlooked  and  disregarded 
by  the  generality  of  the  world.  For  this  is  the  way  in  which 
improvements  are  made;  by  thoughtful  men  tracing  on 
obscure  hints,  as  it  were,  dropped  us  by  nature  accidentally, 
or  which  seem  to  come  into  our  minds  by  chance.  Nor  is 
it  at  all  incredible,  that  a  book,  which  has  been  so  long  in 
the  possession  of  mankind,  should  contain  many  truths  as 
yet  undiscovered. 

Scholars  enamored  of  social  science  are  quite  aware 
of  the  opinions  of  philosophers  and  sociologists  like 
John  Stuart  Mill  and  Herbert  Spencer.  Spencer,  who 
has  been  called  the  chief  founder  of  the  science  of 
Sociology,  had  the  genius  to  see,  as  did  Mr.  Mill  and 
Dr.  Channing,  that  old  forms  of  religious  thought  were 
breaking  up;  this  is  apparent  from  numerous  utter- 
ances of  his  like  the  following : 

In  the  presence  of  the  theological  thaw  going  on  so  fast 
on  all  sides,  there  is  on  the  part  of  many  the  fear,  and 
on  the  part  of  some  the  hope,  that  nothing  will  remain. 
But  the  hopes  and  the  fears  are  alike  groundless;  and  must 
be  dissipated  before  balanced  judgments  in  social  science 
can  be  formed.  Like  the  transformations  that  have  suc- 
ceeded one  another  hitherto,  the  transformation  now  in  pro- 
gress is  but  an  advance  from  a  lower  form,  no  longer  fit,  to 
a  higher  and  fitter  form.  (The  Study  of  Sociology,  chap.  12.) 

Let  us  now  pass  from  the  consideration  of  the  waning 
influence  of  the  churches  to  a  consideration  of  the 
Scriptures  themselves.  Some  have  expressed  the  be- 
lief that  the  Scriptures  do  not  fully  meet  the  religious 


Introduction  xvii 

needs  of  mankind;  and  have  intimated  that  they  may 
be  supplanted  by  the  message  of  a  coming  teacher. 
They  of  this  belief  are  no  doubt  fittingly  represented 
by  our  bold  and  illustrious  Emerson. 

The  Hebrew  and  the  Greek  Scriptures  [said  the  sage  of 
Concord]  contain  immortal  sentences  that  have  been  the 
bread  of  life  to  millions.  But  they  have  no  special  in- 
tegrity ;  are  fragmentary ;  are  not  shown  in  their  order  to  the 
intellect.  I  look  for  a  Teacher  that  shall  follow  so  far  these 
shining  laws,  that  he  shall  see  them  come  full  circle;  shall 
see  the  World  to  be  the  mirror  of  the  Soul;  shall  see  the 
identity  of  the  Law  of  gravitation  with  purity  of  heart; 
and  shall  show  that  the  Ought,  that  Duty,  is  one  thing  with 
Beauty,  with  Science,  with  Joy. 

The  author  of  this  book  entertains  very  great  respect 
for  Emerson  and  what  he  wrote,  as  our  numerous  quota- 
tions from  his  writings  testify ;  but  if  he  were  to  venture 
a  criticism  of  Emerson's  contribution  to  literature,  it 
would  very  much  resemble  what  Emerson  himself 
has  said  about  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures.  He 
would  say  that  Emerson  has  written  immortal  sen- 
tences that  have  given,  and  will  give,  pleasure  and  edi- 
fication to  millions,  but  that  his  writings  are  without 
system;  are  fragmentary;  and  do  not  in  the  main 
present  truth  to  the  intellect  in  any  approximation  to 
scientific  order. 

If  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures  describe  and 
explain  the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  mode  and 
manner  of  its  orderly  evolution;  and  if  the  principles 
thus  described  and  explained  constitute  the  fixed,  and 
the  knowable,  and  the  eternal  in  religion,  is  there  any 
reason  why  another  Moses  should  again  announce  the 
Law  of  Human  Life  to  the  people  of  this  world?  It  is 


xviii  Introduction 

said  that  Isaac  Newton  discovered  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion; and  demonstrated  mathematically  the  truth  of 
his  discovery.  Is  it  necessary  that  another  Newton 
should  again  discover  and  explain  this  law?  Moses, 
the  servant  of  God,  the  giver  of  the  Law  (Mai.  4:4), 
was  evidently  one  of  the  greatest  that  has  ever  lived 
upon  this  earth,  and  is  deserving  of  the  love  and  admi- 
ration of  every  rational  being;  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
who  lived  and  demonstrated  the  Law  (Matt.  5:  17-19), 
is  also  equally  deserving  of  the  love  and  admiration  of 
mankind.  "Did  not  Moses  give  you  the  Law,  and  yet 
none  of  you  keepeth  the  Law  "  (John  7:  19).  This 
shining  Law,  like  the  law  of  gravitation,  has  evidently 
existed  through  all  eternity;  it  was  not  made  by  Moses, 
or  Jesus,  or  any  other  human  being;  it  is  of  God;  it  is 
"the  Law  of  Jehovah"  (Ex.  13:  9;  Ps.  1:2).  It  comes 
from  the  Mind  and  Heart  of  Being,  from  the  common 
source  of  all.  As  to  this  self-evident  truth,  science  in 
recent  times  has  come  to  concur  with  the  Scriptures. 
"All  things  proceed  from  One  Eternal  Energy,"  said 
Herbert  Spencer. 

"What  is  now  called  Christian  religion,"  said  St. 
Augustine,  "was  in  existence  also  among  men  of  old 
times,  and  has  never  been  lacking  since  the  beginning 
of  the  human  race,  till  Christ  himself  appeared  in  the 
flesh.  Since  that  time  the  true  religion  has  begun  to 
be  called  the  Christian  religion." 

Man  attains  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Eternal  by  living 
superior  to  the  temptations  and  passing  shows  of  the 
sensuous  world.  There  have  been  at  all  times  of  which 
we  have  knowledge  a  few  who  have  sought  to  live 
worthy  of  the  privileges  of  life;  and  they  of  this  high 
and  holy  fraternity  are  the  moral  and  religious  teachers 
of  mankind.  Law,  or  what  is  the  same,  Order,  reigns 


Introduction  xix 

supreme  in  the  universe  of  God;  and  when  the  soul  of 
man  is  attuned  to  the  divine  order,  then  it  is  the  organ 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  "The  Comforter  shall  teach  you 
all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance" 
(John  14:26). 

"The  truth  has  long  ago  been  found, 
Has  lofty  minds  together  bound; 
The  ancient  truth — Now  seize  it  fast!" 

William  Henry  Green,  Professor  of  Oriental  and  Old 
Testament  Literature  in  the  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary,  in  his  book,  General  Introduction  to  the  Old 
Testament,  said: 

Nothing  is  plainer  on  the  very  face  of  the  Old  Testament 
from  first  to  last,  than  the  recognized  fact  that  Jehovah 
was  the  God  of  Israel  and  that  Israel  was  his  people.  Now 
the  Law  of  Moses  claims  in  all  of  its  parts  to  be  the 
Law  of  Jehovah  given  through  Moses.  .  .  .  The  prophets 
throughout  claim  to  speak  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  and  by 
His  authority,  and  to  declare  His  will.  What  they  utter 
is  affirmed  to  be  the  Word  of  Jehovah;  their  standing 
formula  is,  "Thus  saith  Jehovah." 

Since  the  Christian  era,  it  has  been  affirmed  by  those 
who  founded  their  religion  mainly  on  the  ideas  and 
doctrines  of  the  New  Testament,  that  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  in  some  measure  supplanted  the  doctrines  of  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures;  but  this  insistence  seems  to 
have  lost  its  force  in  recent  times.  Dr.  Herman  Schultz, 
Professor  of  Theology  in  the  University  of  Gottingen, 
in  his  recent  work,  Old  Testament  Theology,  says :  "There 
is  positively  not  one  New  Testament  idea  that  cannot 
be  conclusively  shown  to  be  a  healthy  and  natural  pro- 
duct of  some  Old  Testament  germ,  nor  truly  any  Old 


xx  Introduction 

Testament  idea  which  did  not  instinctively  press  towards 
its  New  Testament  fulfilment."  In  this  connection, 
Dr.  Schultz  quotes  a  statement  attributed  to  St. 
Augustine:  "The  Old  Testament  is  patent  in  the  New; 
the  New  is  latent  in  the  Old."  Perhaps  it  is  fair  to  say 
that  Dr.  Schultz  has  expressed  the  judgment  of  a  very 
large  number  of  clergymen  denominated  Christian 
who  have  lived  in  recent  times. 

What  is  the  real  cause  of  this  change  of  belief?  Why 
are  modern  scholars,  who  have  been  taught  from  their 
infancy  the  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament,  and  who 
are  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  scientific  method,  now 
affirming  that  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament  teach 
the  same  doctrine?  It  is  because  the  views  of  men  have 
broadened;  it  is  because  they  are  less  influenced  by  the 
historic  and  passing ;  and  are  more  given  to  the  contem- 
plation of  principles;  it  is  because  the  currents  of 
thought  in  the  great  educational  centres  of  the  world 
have  veered  from  historic  to  scientific  lines ;  in  a  word, 
it  is  the  result  of  the  enlargement  of  man's  capacity 
to  think  in  an  orderly  and  scientific  way.  If  Moses 
gave  to  the  people  of  the  world  the  Law  of  Jehovah, 
the  Law  of  Human  Life,  or  to  speak  more  definitely, 
the  law  governing  the  mode  and  manner  of  the  soul's 
evolution,  then  it  stands  to  reason  that  no  one  could 
supplant  this  law.  "For  truth  is  the  truth  to  the  end 
of  reckoning,"  as  Shakespeare  has  said.  "Think  not 
that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  Law,  or  the  prophets: 
I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill"  (Matt.  5:  17- 

19). 

Is  it  thinkable  that  any  one  should  discover  and  de- 
monstrate a  law  of  falling  bodies,  and  thus  supplant 
the  law  of  gravitation  discovered  and  explained  by 
Isaac  Newton?  Is  that  fundamental  principle  of 


Introduction  xxi 

mathematics,  to  wit :  that  the  three  interior  angles  of  a 
triangle  are  equal  to  two  right  angles,  only  an  approxi- 
mation to  the  truth?  The  wisest  and  the  best,  the 
most  godlike  that  have  ever  been  upon  this  earth,  have 
insisted  that  knowledge  of  the  truth  is  of  the  very  first 
importance.  The  Scriptures  teach  that  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth  is  important  above  all ;  they  teach  that  the 
knowledge  of  truth  liberates  man  from  the  limitations 
of  the  sensuous  world;  and  that  they  alone  are  free 
who  have  overcome  the  world.  "Know  the  truth, 
and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free  "  (John  8 :  32) .  Man's 
mission  is  to  know  the  truth.  "To  this  end  was  I  born, 
and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  might 
bear  witness  unto  the  truth"  (John  18:37).  It  is 
affirmed  that  the  All-wise  God,  who  made  man  in  His 
own  image  and  likeness,  made  him  capable  of  a  knowl- 
edge of  truth;  and  that  in  this  the  wise  behold  the 
unspeakable  glory  of  God. 

"  Order  is  Truth,"  said  Thomas  Carlyle.  The  divine 
order  represents  the  truth,  and  the  whole  of  the  truth ; 
and  when  the  human  soul  is  conformed  to  the  divine 
order  it  is  divorced  from  the  animal  kingdom  of  the 
world,  and  is  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  king- 
dom of  truth  and  righteousness.  Religion  is  founded 
upon  the  idea  that  there  is  a  Spiritual  Kingdom  which 
transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world.  "My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  if  my  kingdom  were  of 
this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight "  (John  18 :  36). 
Abraham,  and  Joseph,  and  Moses,  and  Jesus  are  the 
names  of  some  of  them  who  have  overcome  the  world; 
and  who  were  consciously  related  to  the  kingdom  of 
God  while  living  in  the  world.  Jesus  said  of  his  dis- 
ciples: "They  are  not  of  the  world,  even  as  I  am  not 
of  the  world"  (John  17:  14-16). 


xxii  Introduction 

When  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  are  interpreted  psycho- 
logically, they  are  shown  to  be  orderly  and  scientific. 
The  evolution  of  the  master  is  told  in  the  story  of 
Abraham.  He  attained  to  the  day  of  liberation;  "he 
saw  my  day,  and  rejoiced"  (John  8:56).  "The  land 
of  Egypt"  is  a  phrase  often  used  in  the  Scriptures  to 
describe  the  sensuous  state  of  man;  and  thus  it  is  that 
God  is  said  to  lead  his  own  out  of  Egypt.  Joseph ' '  ruled 
over  all  the  land  of  Egypt";  he  overcame  the  world; 
all  were  required  to  do  obeisance  to  him  (Gen.  41 :  43). 
The  life  of  Joseph  teaches  the  way  of  the  Master.  ' '  Can 
we  find  such  a  one  as  this  is,  a  man  in  whom  the  Spirit 
of  God  is?"  (Gen.  41 :  38).  Moses  and  Jesus  were  and 
are  great  masters;  the  masters  are  they  that  constitute 
the  order  of  Melchisedec,  "an  unchangeable  priesthood, 
consecrated  forevermore"  (Heb.  7:11,  24,  28).  They 
of  this  order  are  the  great  religious  teachers  of  mankind ; 
they  are  the  sons  of  God;  they  belong  to  the  same 
brotherhood;  they  are  related  to  the  same  kingdom; 
they  are  the  organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  they  teach 
the  same  doctrine;  or  rather,  the  Holy  Spirit  speaks 
the  truth  through  them.  God  hath  spoken  the  truth 
through  "His  holy  prophets,  which  have  been  since 
the  world  began"  (Luke  i:  70;  Neh.  9:  30;  Zech.  7:  12; 
Micah  3:8).  "Wisdom  maketh  all  things  new;  and  in 
all  ages  entering  into  holy  souls,  she  hath  made  them 
friends  of  God,  and  prophets"  (Wisd.  of  Sol.  7:27). 
Moses,  the  giver  of  the  Law,  is  the  central  figure  of 
Old  Testament  literature,  as  Jesus  is  of  the  New.  When 
the  teachings  of  these  great  masters  are  examined  in  the 
light  of  psychology,  they  are  seen  to  be  identical. 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  all  human  souls  are  made 
after  the  same  divine  pattern,  "the  pattern  shown 
Moses  on  the  mount"  (Ex.  25:40).  It  therefore  fol- 


Introduction  xxiii 

lows  that  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  the  teachings  of  the 
prophets  are  alike  applicable  to  all  human  beings;  and 
that  every  human  soul  which  would  attain  to  perfec- 
tion must  conform  to  the  Law  of  its  own  nature,  to 
"the  pattern  shown  Moses  on  the  mount,"  and  to  the 
teachings  of  the  prophets ;  for  all  have  taught  the  same 
essential  truths.  In  a  word,  the  Scriptures  are  psycho- 
logical; they  are  written  concerning  your  soul,  and 
mine.  "All  things  must  be  fulfilled,  which  were  writ- 
ten in  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  prophets,  and  in 
the  psalms,  concerning  me"  (Luke  24:  44). 

And  thus  we  have  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man.  "Have  we  not  all  One  Father? 
Has  not  God  One  created  us  all?"  (Mai.  2:  10).  How 
beautiful,  how  orderly,  how  scientific,  how  unspeakably 
edifying  this  is.  The  hearts  of  the  sages  of  old  were 
filled  with  inexpressible  joy,  when  they  contemplated 
Heaven's  Law,  and  its  relation  to  the  soul  of  man.  It 
is  the  never  ending  delight  of  the  wise  and  the  just. 
"His  delight  is  in  the  Law  of  the  Lord;  and  in  His  Law 
doth  he  meditate  day  and  night"  (Ps.  1:2).  John 
Ruskin,  England's  famous  art  critic  and  social  reformer, 
whose  observations  on  nature  and  art  have  instructed 
and  edified  the  intelligent  the  world  over,  said:  "And 
if  people  would  read  the  text  of  their  Bibles  with  heartier 
purpose  of  understanding  it,  instead  of  superstitiously, 
they  would  see  that  throughout  the  parts  which  they 
intend  to  make  most  personally  their  own  (the  Psalms) 
it  is  always  the  Law  which  is  spoken  of  with  chief  joy. 
.  .  .  David  cannot  contain  himself  for  joy  in  thinking 
of  it, — he  is  never  weary  of  its  praise : — '  How  I  love  thy 
Law;  it  is  my  meditation  all  the  day.  Thy  testimonies 
are  my  delight  and  my  counsellors.'"  All  things  are 
destined  to  conform  to  Heaven's  Law.  "Elias  must 


xxiv  Introduction 

first  come  .  .  .  and  restore  all  things"  (Matt.  17: 10- 
n).  This  is  the  work  that  takes  precedence  of  all 
other. 

There  is  an  internal  religion  which  is  One  and  eternal; 
it  is  founded  upon  the  nature  of  the  human  soul  itself; 
it  is  the  religion  taught  of  the  masters  "which  have 
been  since  the  world  began"  (Luke  1 :  70).  There  are 
numerous  external  forms  of  religion  founded  upon  this, 
or  that  metaphysical  doctrine.  Moses  Mendelssohn, 
a  Jewish  philosopher  much  distinguished  in  his  day 
because  of  his  wisdom  and  charitable  offices,  in  a  letter 
to  his  friend  John  Caspar  Lavater  in  1769,  said: 

Every  one  knows  that  there  is  an  internal  as  well  as  an 
external  religion;  the  former  includes  no  other  precepts 
than  those  of  the  religion  of  nature  which  we  are  bound  to 
propagate,  and  of  which  I  endeavor  to  spread  the  knowledge 
to  the  best  of  my  power.  Our  external  religion,  on  the 
contrary,  was  not  designed  to  be  propagated ;  as  its  precepts 
are  limited  to  a  particular  race,  as  well  as  to  special  times 
and  circumstances.  We  undoubtedly  regard  our  religion 
as  the  best  of  all  religions,  because  we  believe  it  to  be  divine. 
But  it  does  not  hence  follow  that  it  is  absolutely  the  best. 
It  is  the  best  for  us  and  our  posterity.  What  external 
religion  may  be  the  best  for  other  nations  I  cannot  know; 
but  this  I  believe,  that  no  external  religion  can  be  universal. 
By  making  proselytes  to  Judaism,  therefore,  I  should  be 
extending  the  religion  of  my  ancestors  beyond  the  bounda- 
ries originally  prescribed  for  it.  Whoever  is  not  born 
conformably  to  our  laws  has  no  occasion  to  live  according 
to  them.  We  alone  are  bound  to  acknowledge  their  author- 
ity; and  this  can  give  no  offence  to  our  neighbors. 

Mendelssohn  lived  in  an  age  of  rank  religious  perse- 
cutions, in  an  age  when  the  religion  of  the  Jews  was 
a  common  object  of  attack  by  those  who  assumed 


Introduction  xxv 

to  represent  other  forms  of  religion.  Mendelssohn's 
letter  is  an  ingenious  argument  in  favor  of  religious 
toleration;  in  a  way  he  places  his  own  religion  on  an 
equality  with  other  religions;  and  says:  "Our  external 
religion  was  not  designed  to  be  propagated;  as  its  pre- 
cepts are  limited  to  a  particular  race,  as  well  as  to 
special  times  and  circumstances."  This  is  a  very  good 
description  of  an  historic  form  of  religion.  It  was  a 
polite  way  of  saying,  let  the  people  of  each  nation  at- 
tend to  their  own  external  form  of  religion  and  cease 
from  proselyting  among,  and  interfering  with  the  reli- 
gious affairs  of  the  people  of  other  nations ;  and,  in  order 
to  emphasize  this  idea,  Mendelssohn  uses  this  significant 
language:  "What  external  religion  may  be  best  for 
other  nations  I  cannot  know;  but  this  I  believe,  that  no 
external  form  of  religion  can  be  universal.'"  Mendels- 
sohn, though  living  at  the  dawn  of  the  great  scientific 
movement  of  modern  times,  was  philosopher  enough 
to  believe  that  no  external  or  historic  form  of  religion 
could  be  universal. 

The  confusion  which  has  existed  in  the  minds  of  men 
for  centuries,  and  which  has  resulted  in  numerous  ex- 
ternal forms  of  religion,  alleged  to  be  founded  upon  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  was  and  is  caused,  as  we  believe,  by 
a  failure  to  comprehend  the  nature  of  the  human  soul, 
and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its  orderly  evolution. 
The  errors  of  men  in  religion  have  been  caused  by  a 
failure  to  realize  the  nature  of  the  Law.  This  Law 
which  points  the  way  of  the  soul's  perfection  is  some- 
times called  the  Law  of  Jehovah;  again,  the  Law  of 
God,  and  also  the  Law  of  Moses.  "Remember  ye  the 
Law  of  Moses  my  servant,  which  I  commanded  unto 
him  in  Horeb  for  all  Israel,  with  statutes  and  judgments  " 
(Mai.  4:4).  The  Law,  God's  Law,  describes  a  process. 


xxvi  Introduction 

"The  statutes  and  judgments"  represent  precepts, — 
commands  and  inhibitions.  What  is  it  that  represents 
the  fulfillment  of  the  Law?  It  is  the  perfection  of  the 
soul  of  man. 

This  book  submits  an  interpretation  of  the  process, 
the  method,  the  Law,  whereby  the  soul  of  man  is  made 
perfect;  therefore,  it  is  denominated  the  Law  of  Human 
Life.  This  evolutionary  process,  or  story  of  the  human 
soul,  is  told  again  and  again  in  the  Scriptures ;  and  while 
other  and  different  symbols  are  used  as  often  as  the 
process  is  described;  yet  the  several  stories,  in  their 
essential  nature,  are  identical.  The  story  is  several 
times  told  in  the  Pentateuch,  to  wit :  in  the  allegory  of 
Adam;  in  the  story  of  Noah;  and  in  the  life  story  of 
each  of  the  patriarchs:  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and 
Joseph;  also  in  the  life  of  Moses,  and  in  the  Book  of 
Exodus,  with  much  elaboration;  it  is  described  and 
illustrated  in  the  life  and  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  as 
well  as  in  the  epistles  and  life  of  Paul.  The  Law  of 
Moses  is  the  central  idea  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures. 
The  story  of  the  lives  of  the  patriarchs,  and  of  Moses, 
and  of  Jesus,  are  evidently  presented  in  a  psychological 
way,  for  the  purpose  of  describing  and  explaining  the 
Law,  and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its  fulfillment.  All 
the  great  persons,  whether  patriarchs  or  masters,  whose 
names  appear  in  the  Scriptures  are  represented  as  living 
in  obedience  to  the  Law.  The  patriarchs  who  lived 
before  the  time  of  the  coming  of  Moses,  the  giver  of 
the  Law,  are  said  to  have  lived  in  a  manner  agreeable 
to  the  Law.  Paul  speaks  of  Gentiles  "which  have  not 
the  Law,  who  do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the 
Law"  (Rom.  2:14).  Of  course,  it  stands  to  reason 
that  all  persons  who  live  orderly  and  justly  do  in  a 
substantial  measure  conform  to  the  Law.  The  story 


Introduction  xxvii 

of  Jonah,  the  prophet,  when  viewed  as  history,  is  fool- 
ish and  inconsistent;  but  when  viewed  as  an  allegory 
in  the  light  of  psychology,  it  is-  seen  to  describe  and 
explain  the  process  whereby  the  soul  of  man  is  made 
perfect;  and  thus  it  is  that  no  prophet  has  ever  given 
to  the  people  of  the  world  any  other  sign,  than  the 
sign  of  Jonah,  the  sign  that  unerringly  attends  the 
fulfillment  of  the  Law.  "No  sign  shall  be  given,  but 
the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas"  (Matt.  12:  39). 

The  Scriptures  contain  many  precepts, — commands 
and  inhibitions;  but  these  do  not  constitute  the  higher 
Law,  the  Law  of  Moses.  They  are  subsidiary  to  the 
higher,  and  are  given  to  lead  man  to  a  knowledge  of  it. 
"Remember  ye  the  Law  of  Moses,  my  servant,  with 
statutes  and  judgments."  The  higher  Law,  the  Law 
of  the  mind,  represents  the  divine  order  within  the  soul 
of  man.  Man  is  governed  by  precepts  from  without, 
before  he  is  governed  by  the  Spirit  and  its  Law  from 
within.  As  long  as  man  lives  unmindful  of  the  Law  of 
his  own  nature,  it  is  necessary  to  confront  him  with 
commands  and  inhibitions.  Reason  itself  is  spiritual; 
its  office  is  to  govern ;  and  it  should  act  in  perfect  accord 
with  conscience,  the  Spirit  of  God  within  the  soul.  "I 
will  instruct  thee  and  teach  thee  in  the  way  which 
thou  shalt  go :  I  will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye.  Be  not 
as  the  horse,  or  as  the  mule,  which  have  no  understand- 
ing: whose  mouth  must  be  held  in  with  bit  and  bridle 
lest  they  come  near  unto  thee"  (Ps.  32:  8,  9).  They 
that  are  governed  of  precepts  are  as  the  horse  and  the 
mule  that  are  held  in  with  bit  and  bridle. 

In  the  Scriptures  attributed  to  Paul,  it  is  written 
that  "the  Law  is  holy,  that  the  Law  is  spiritual;  nay, 
I  had  not  known  sin,  but  by  the  Law"  (Rom.  7:  7,  12, 
14).  It  is  the  Law  that  reveals  sin;  the  Law  represents 


xxviii  Introduction 

the  divine  order ;  and  thus  it  is  holy.  "Order  is  Truth." 
Evil  represents  disorder,  confusion,  deformity.  "The 
Law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  restoring  the  soul ;  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple" 
(Ps.  19:  7).  The  soul  itself  must  in  some  measure  be 
attuned  to  the  divine  order  before  man  is  capable  of 
comprehending  the  nature  of  sin.  Therefore,  it  is  the 
Law  that  discovers  sin;  and  thus  it  is  spiritual.  All 
men  are  under  the  Law ;  for  all  human  souls  are  made 
after  the  same  divine  pattern.  Man  must  conform 
to  the  divine  order,  or  suffer  the  consequences  which 
attend  its  violation.  "Be  not  deceived;  God  is  not 
mocked:  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he 
also  reap"  (Gal.  6:7). 

"For  sin  shall  not  have  dominion  over  you:  for  ye 
are  not  under  the  Law,  but  under  grace"  (Rom.  6:  14). 
This  we  would  construe  as  follows:  Ye  are  not  under 
precepts,  ye  are  not  governed  by  commands  and  inhibi- 
tions, ye  are  not  governed  from  without,  but  from  with- 
in; ye  are  faithful  to  reason;  ye  are  self-governing. 
This  seems  a  fair  interpretation,  since  law,  or  laws,  are 
often  used  as  being  synonymous  with  precepts.  Sin 
does  not  have  dominion  over  them  who  live  and  act 
in  obedience  to  reason  and  conscience,  the  divine  within 
the  soul  of  man.  "The  law  is  not  made  for  a  righteous 
man,  but  for  the  lawless  and  disobedient,  for  the  ungodly 
and  for  sinners"  (i  Tim.  1:9).  Does  any  one  believe 
that  the  word  law  as  here  used  has  reference  to  an  inner 
law?  Is  it  not  apparent  that  it  refers  to  commands  and 
inhibitions  imposed  on  evil  doers  from  without?  Pre- 
cepts are  not  made  for  a  righteous  man,  but  for  the 
lawless  and  disobedient.  The  righteous  man  is  self- 
governing;  in  a  true  sense,  he  is  immune  from  the 
operation  of  commands  and  inhibitions  which  are 


Introduction  xxix 

made  for  the  guidance  and  restraint  of  the  lawless 
and  ungodly. 

It  would  seem  that,  in  every  instance  where  Paul 
is  represented  as  using  the  word  law  in  an  unqualified 
way,  he  used  the  word  in  the  sense  of  precepts.  The 
thought  that  Paul  intended  to  convey  and  to  empha- 
size when  he  uses  the  word  law  unqualifiedly  is,  that 
man  should  not  be  governed  from  without  by  precepts, 
that  he  should  not  be  "held  in  with  bit  and  bridle,"  as 
the  horse  or  mule;  but  that  he  should  be  governed 
by  reason  and  conscience.  This  interpretation  makes 
Paul's  -teachings  consistent  with  all  other  Scripture. 
When  Paul  uses  the  word  Law  in  another  sense  than 
the  unqualified,  he  does  not  leave  his  meaning  in  uncer- 
tainty, as  the  following  passage  proves:  "For  I  delight 
in  the  Law  of  God  after  the  inward  man"  (Rom.  7:  22). 
This  we  would  interpret:  I  delight  in  God's  Law  of  the 
Mind  and  Soul.  I  delight  in  that  Divine  Law,  that 
inner  Law,  that  Law  of  the  Mind  which  points  the  way 
of  human  perfection.  The  Law  of  God  and  the  Law 
of  Moses  are  One.  Man  may  escape  guidance  by 
precepts,  and  become  self-governing,  but  no  philo- 
sophic mind  can  believe  that  man  will  ever  escape  from 
the  operation  of  the  Law  of  his  own  nature.  It  is  the 
duty  of  man  to  live  in  obedience  to  the  higher  Law. 
For  if  we  are  faithful,  if  we  faint  not,  "though  the 
outward  man  perish,  yet  the  inward  man  is  renewed 
day  by  day"  (2  Cor.  4:  16).  In  the  third  chapter  of 
Galatians,  Paul  speaks  of  the  "works  of  the  Law," 
and  says:  "The  Law  was  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us 
to  Christ,  that  we  might  be  justified  by  faith."  This 
is  the  precise  office  of  the  precepts.  Their  office  is  to 
bring  man  to  a  realization  of  individual  self-govern- 
ment, and  to  a  faith  in  God. 


xxx  Introduction 

Jesus  Christ,  like  Moses  and  all  the  great  of  Israel, 
represents  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law,  human  and  divine. 
Jesus,  like  Moses,  is  the  Law  and  the  Testimony.  The 
lives  of  those  who  have  fulfilled  the  Law  demonstrate 
the  way  of  salvation.  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and 
the  life:  no  man  cometh  to  the  Father,  but  by  me" 
(John  14:  6).  No  man  cometh  to  a  knowledge  of  God, 
but  by  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law.  Paul  believed  that 
Jesus  represented  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law;  conse- 
quently the  following  and  like  expressions:  "The  Law 
[precepts]  was  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ," 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  higher  Law,  and  its  fulfillment, 
"that  we  might  be  justified  by  faith."  All  who  fulfill 
the  divine  Law,  the  Law  of  the  Soul  are  justified  by 
faith.  "The  Law  is  not  of  faith:  but  the  man  that 
doetlfthem  shall  live  in  them"  (Gal.  3:  12).  The  pre- 
cepts are  not  of  faith;  but  the  higher  Law  evidently 
is;  for  it  is  spiritual  and  holy. 

Paul  calls  the  Galatians  (4: 19)  "my  little  children" 
and  also  tells  how  he  is  in  travail,  that  he  must  labor 
hard  and  painfully,  "until  Christ  be  formed  in  them." 
The  Galatians  are  denominated  "little  children"  be- 
cause they  are  governed  of  precepts,  and  not  of  the 
Spirit,  because  they  are  governed  from  without  and 
not  from  within.  In  a  word,  they  make  the  labors  of 
Paul  hard  and  painful  to  bear  because  they  have  to  be 
governed  like  little  children  by  commands  and  inhibi- 
tions, and  because  they  are  slow  to  develop  an  indi- 
vidual capacity  for  self-government ;  and  thus  we  ought 
to  have  some  conception  of  what  it  is  to  have  "Christ 
formed  in  us,"  what  it  is  that  attunes  the  soul  to  the 
higher  Law.  The  salvation  of  man  involves  a  psycho- 
logical and  orderly  process  as  we  are  told  again  and 
again  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures. 


Introduction  xxxi 

But  if  we  are  faithful  to  the  inner  Law,  and  faint  not, 
"though  the  outer  man  perish,  yet  the  inner  man  is 
renewed  day  by  day."  This  process  of  orderly  growth 
within  the  soul  of  man  described  by  Paul  recalls  the 
words  of  Charles  Darwin  who,  though  a  secularist, 
rendered  the  cause  of  true  religion  an  invaluable  service. 
Evolution,  said  Darwin,  proceeds  by  "numerous, 
successive,  and  slight  modifications."  To  quote  again 
the  words  of  Paul,  the  perfection  of  the  soul  of  man 
proceeds  "from  character  to  character."  Channing  in 
his  famous  discourse  on  "Fenelon,"  said:  "No  man,  it 
is  believed,  understands  the  wild  and  irregular  motions 
of  the  mind,  like  him  in  whom  a  principle  of  divine 
order  has  begun  to  establish  peace.  No  man  knows  the 
horror  of  thick  darkness  which  gathers  over  the  slaves 
of  vehement  passion,  like  him  who  is  rising  into  the 
light  and  liberty  of  virtue." 

Paul  feared  lest  the  Corinthians  "should  be  cor- 
rupted from  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ"  (2  Cor. 
11:3).  The  simplicity  of  Christ  is  represented  in  a 
life  governed  by  reason  and  by  conscience;  the  reverse 
of  this  is  a  life  governed  by  malice,  greed,  envy,  lust, 
hypocrisy,  revenge,  conceit,  superstition,  and  tyranny; 
these  are  a  few  of  the  obsessing  devils  that  prevent 
countless  millions  from  abiding  in  the  simplicity  of 
Christ.  How  simple  and  scientific  the  Scriptures  be- 
come when  we  rise  above  the  passing  and  historic, 
and  view  them  in  the  light  of  psychology.  Science  is 
orderly  knowledge;  and  all  science,  like  religion,  tends 
to  unity  and  simplicity. 

Jesus  Christ,  like  Moses  and  all  the  great,  taught  a 
life.  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  Life."  The 
fulfillment  of  the  Law  represents  the  love  and  coopera- 
tion of  the  individual  life  with  the  Universal  Life.  "I 


xxxii  Introduction 

and  my  Father  are  One"  (John  10:30).  There  are 
many  like  expressions  in  the  Old  Testament.  "Enoch 
walked  with  God."  "Noah  walked  with  God."  And 
of  Abraham  it  is  written:  "I  am  the  Almighty  God; 
walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect "  (Gen.  17 :  i) ;  and 
of  Egypt's  master:  "Can  we  find  such  a  one  as  this  is, 
a  man  in  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  is?"  (Gen.  41:38). 
"Master,  which  is  the  great  commandment  of  the 
Law?"  (Matt.  22:  36-39).  Jesus'  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion is  in  the  precise  language  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  (Deut.  6:5;  Levit.  19:18).  They  that 
truly  love  God  and  man,  they  that  walk  with  God, 
they  in  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  is,  are  not  governed  of 
precepts;  they  are  governed  of  the  Spirit  from  within. 
The  mission  of  man  is  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law;  he 
that  is  faithful  to  the  higher  Law  is  "strengthened  with 
might  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  inner  man"  (Eph. 
3:16).  " 

The  insistence  of  the  author  of  this  book  is,  that 
religion  is  not  founded  primarily  upon  precepts,  or  a 
creed,  or  any  metaphysical  thesis,  but  upon  a  Law  which 
is  revealed  in  the  nature  of  the  human  soul  itself.  If 
this  be  true,  then  religion  is  not  a  matter  of  speculation. 
Nothing  is  a  matter  of  speculation  that  is  teachable 
and  demonstrable.  It  is  affirmed  that  Almighty  God 
who  made  man  in  His  own  image  and  likeness  has  given 
to  him  for  his  guidance  a  Law  which  is  perfect  (Ps. 
19:7);  and  that  the  true  mission  of  man  is  the  ful- 
fillment of  this  high  and  holy  Law.  Abraham,  and 
Joseph,  and  Moses,  and  Jesus,  are  the  names  of  some 
in  whom  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law  was  demonstrated. 
"  The  Law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made 
me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death"  (Rom.  8:2). 
This  we  would  interpret:  "The  Law  of  the  Spirit,"  the 


Introduction  xxxiii 

Law  of  God,  which  was  fulfilled  and  demonstrated  in  the 
life  of  Jesus  Christ,  hath  made  me  free  from  precepts, 
that  are  made  for  the  restraint  and  guidance  of  the 
lawless  and  the  ungodly. 

It  may  be  said  that  science  stands  for  certain  doc- 
trines, to  wit:  "that  all  things  proceed  from  One 
Eternal  Energy,"  that  every  principle,  or  truth  is  and 
must  be  consistent  with  every  other,  that  there  is  a 
natural  and  orderly  development  in  all  the  kingdoms: 
mineral,  vegetable,  animal,  and  human,  and  that  this 
orderly  process  is  denominated  the  Law  of  Evolution. 
Then  the  question,  Do  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  announce 
principles  in  harmony  with  the  declared  principles  of 
science?  We  affirm  that  they  do;  and  that  they  teach 
the  highest  conceivable  science.  The  doctrines  of  re- 
ligion may  be  thus  stated :  that  there  is  One  Almighty 
God  from  whom  all  Reality  proceeds;  that  man  is  pos- 
sessed of  a  soul;  that  there  is  a  Law  of  Human  Life 
that  points  the  way  of  the  soul's  perfection;  and  that 
there  is  a  Spiritual  Kingdom  that  transcends  the  animal 
kingdom  of  the  world.  It  is  affirmed  that  these  reli- 
gious, doctrines  are  both  reasonable  and  scientific,  and 
are  realizable  in  consciousness.  The  principal  office 
of  science  is  to  discover  the  orderly  processes  of  nature. 
Now,  if  it  be  true  that  Moses  proclaimed  the  Law  of 
Human  Life,  the  Law  that  points  the  way  of  human 
salvation,  then  it  must  be  admitted  that  this  consti- 
tutes the  highest  and  most  glorious  contribution  to 
science  in  the  course  of  all  time.  But  from  the  view- 
point of  science,  it  must  be  admitted  also  that  the  con- 
tribution would  be  just  as  great  and  consequential  had 
it  been  given  through  the  instrumentality  of  another. 
Every  rational  being  is,  or  ought  to  be,  profoundly 
concerned  in  knowing  if  there  be  a  Law  of  Human  Life; 


xxxiv  Introduction 

but  every  such  being  is  only  incidentally  concerned  in 
knowing  the  name  of  the  person  through  whom  it  was 
given. 

The  fulfilling  of  the  Law  is  personal ;  it  fixes  a  respon- 
sibility as  high  as  heaven  upon  every  rational  being; 
and  they  who  have  fulfilled  the  Law  have  done  for 
mankind,  as  well  as  for  themselves,  the  best  and  great- 
est service.  They  represent  "an  unchangeable  priest- 
hood consecrated  forevermore."  They  of  this  high 
and  holy  order,  "the  order  of  Melchisedec,"  are  above 
all,  our  masters,  our  teachers;  they  are  the  great  ones 
sent  of  God,  that  have  appeared  among  men  from  time 
to  time,  "since  the  world  began"  (Luke  1:70;  Neh. 
9:  30).  The  masters  are  the  organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
1 '  in  whom  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge. And  this  I  say,  lest  any  man  should  beguile 
you  with  enticing  words"  (Col.  2:3,  4).  The  story  of 
the  prophet's  life  is  the  story  of  the  Law's  fulfillment. 
"No  sign  shall  be  given,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet 
Jonas,"  the  sign  that  unerringly  attends  the  fulfillment 
of  the  Law.  Therefore,  all  should  honor  and  respect 
the  greatest  of  mankind;  they  who  live  in  obedience 
to  Heaven's  Law;  they  who  alone  represent  the  ideal 
human  life;  they  who  declare  the  glad  tidings  of  the 
kingdom  of  God;  they  who  point  the  way  of  salvation. 
But  the  author  of  this  book  must  again  repeat  with  all 
emphasis  and  seriousness  of  statement,  that  in  propor- 
tion as  mankind  has  lost  sight  of  the  Law,  the  Law  of 
God,  the  Law  of  the  Soul,  the  great  central  principle 
of  religion,  they  have  drifted  away  from  the  worship 
of  God  the  One  Almighty  Spiritual  Being  from  whom 
all  power  and  virtue  proceeds,  and  have  become  the 
superstitious  worshippers  of  persons,  times,  and  places. 

William  Ellery  Channing  in  a  letter  written  in  1836, 


Introduction  xxxv 

said:  "Preaching  is  becoming  less  and  less  efficacious." 
Why  is  this  true?  It  is  because  people  capable  of 
orderly  thought  are  not  satisfied  with  sermons  that 
are  destitute  of  scientific  method.  Dr.  Channing  saw 
this  long  prior  to  1836,  but  in  this  letter  he  uses  the 
following  expressive  language: 

It  is  melancholy  to  think  how  little  clear  knowledge  on 
the  subject  of  duty  and  religion,  is  communicated  by  the 
pulpit,  and  how  often  the  emotions  which  it  excites,  for 
want  of  clear  views,  for  want  of  wisdom,  runs  into  morbid- 
ness or  excess.  No  art,  no  science  is  taught  so  vaguely  as 
religion  from  the  pulpit.  No  book  is  read  or  expounded 
as  the  Bible  is,  that  is,  in  minute  fragments,  and  without 
those  helps  of  method,  by  which  all  other  branches  are 
taught. 

The  day  is  at  hand  when  religion  will  again  be  taught 
after  the  manner  of  the  Law,  when  it  will  again  be 
presented  in  a  way  to  challenge  the  respect,  the  admira- 
tion, aye,  to  awaken  the  unspeakable  joy  of  the  noblest, 
the  best,  and  the  wisest. 

The  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  identical  with  the  Law 
of  Moses.  "It  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to 
every  one  that  believeth"  (Rom.  1:16).  They  that 
believe  in  the  Law,  and  live  worthy  of  it  are  the  just 
of  whom  Paul  here  speaks.  "But  we  preach  Christ 
crucified,  unto  the  Jews  a  stumbling  block,  and  unto 
the  Greeks  foolishness ;  but  unto  them  which  are  called, 
both  Jews  and  Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and 
the  wisdom  of  God  (i  Cor.  1 :  23,  24).  They  that  have 
fulfilled  the  Law  make  manifest  the  power  of  God  and 
the  wisdom  of  God.  "That  which  may  be  known  of 
God  is  made  manifest  in  the  lives  of  the  just"  (Rom. 
i:  19).  Religion  is  founded  upon  the  idea  that  there 


xxxvi  Introduction 

is  a  Spiritual  Kingdom  which  transcends  the  animal 
kingdom  of  the  world;  that  man  must  conquer  and 
crucify  his  animal  nature  before  he  is  born  into  the 
higher  kingdom.  This  is  a  stumblingblock  and  fool- 
ishness to  every  sensualist.  This  language  is  only 
intelligible  "unto  them  which  are  called,"  unto  them 
which  are  resurrected  out  of  a  state  of  carnality  and 
death.  "Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit:  for  theirs  is 
the  kingdom  of  heaven"  (Matt.  5:3).  This  we  would 
interpret:  Blessed  are  they  that  are  depleted  of  the 
spirit  of  the  world;  blessed  are  they  that  have  crucified 
the  flesh;  for  their  inheritance  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
"He  that  hath  suffered  in  the  flesh  [and  is  dead  to  the 
spirit  of  the  sensuous  world]  hath  ceased  from  sin" 
(i  Peter  4:1).  The  rise  of  man  out  of  a  sensuous  carnal 
state  into  a  truly  human  and  spiritual  state  represents 
the  "fulfillment  of  the  Law,"  the  attunement  of  the  soul 
to  the  divine  order.  The  first  step  necessary  to  the 
salvation  of  mankind  is  the  restoration  of  the  Law. 
"Elias  must  first  come  and  restore  all  things."  When 
the  soul  of  man  is  attuned  to  the  divine  order,  then  it  is 
that  he  manifests  "the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom 
of  God." 

The  author  of  this  book  insists  and  affirms  that  the 
salvation  of  man  does  not  consist  in  consenting  to  pre- 
cepts, or  to  a  creed,  or  to  any  form  of  metaphysical 
theses,  except  in  an  outward  and  superficial  sense;  but 
that  the  salvation  of  man  does  consist  in  bringing  the 
three  constituent  principles  of  the  soul,  often  described 
and  explained  in  the  Scriptures,  into  perfect  unity  and 
harmony.  Plato  in  his  dialogue,  The  Republic,  likens 
the  three  constituent  principles  of  the  human  soul  to 
the  "higher,  lower,  and  the  middle  notes  of  the  scale" 
of  music;  and  he  tells  how  they  may  "become  one 


Introduction  xxxvii 

entirely  temperate  and  perfectly  adjusted  nature." 
What  Plato  calls  a  "perfectly  adjusted  nature"  is 
synonymous,  we  believe,  with  what  Jesus  calls  the 
"fulfillment  of  the  Law." 

If  Jesus  Christ  taught  and  demonstrated  in  his  life 
the  same  doctrine  concerning  the  soul  of  man,  and  the 
mode  and  manner  of  its  orderly  evolution  that  was 
proclaimed  by  Moses,  then  it  may  be  asked  in  what 
regard  the  dispensation  of  Jesus  differed  from  the  dis- 
pensation of  Moses.  The  answer  to  this  is:  Moses 
taught  a  people,  the  congregation  of  Israel,  and  such  as 
saw  fit  to  conform  to  the  requirements  of  the  Law. 
Jesus  sought  to  communicate  the  religion  of  Israel  to 
all  the  people  of  the  world  without  reference  to  race  or 
previous  condition.  Paul,  like  his  illustrious  master, 
evidently  believed  that  the  age  in  which  he  lived  was  in 
some  degree  auspicious  for  the  dispensation  of  the 
religion  of  Israel  to  all  mankind.  "And  at  the  time  of 
this  ignorance  God  winked:  but  now  cometh  all  men 
everywhere  to  repent"  (Acts  17:  30;  14:  16). 

Edward  J.  Hamilton,  D.D.,  of  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  in 
his  contribution  to  the  book,  The  Church,  the  People, 
and  the  Age,  said: 

Truth  is  not  revealed  to  the  human  mind  in  abstract  and 
systematic  form,  but  in  the  separate  concrete  manifesta- 
tions of  creation.  It  is  the  office  of  the  analytic  and  syn- 
thetic power  of  reason  to  ascertain  and  coordinate  the  laws 
of  nature  and  of  the  divine  government.  Even  the  sacred 
Scriptures  do  not  contain  any  formal  system  of  theology 
or  ethics,  but  rather  give  us  facts  and  examples,  rules  and 
laws,  which  should  be  carefully  studied,  compared,  and 
construed  together,  and  upon  which  we  have  a  right  rever- 
ently to  philosophize. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  McComb,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  in  his 


xxxviii  Introduction 

contribution  to  the  above-named  book,  expressed  opin- 
ions substantially  as  follows:  Truth  is  unity.  Every 
truth  of  science  is  also  a  truth  of  religion.  Every  gene- 
ralization in  regard  to  the  physical  world,  such  as  the 
principle  of  evolution,  is  the  revelation  of  divine  activ- 
ity. Every  uplifting  force  in  the  normal  or  social  order 
is  a  sign  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  an  ever-present 
reality.  The  utterances  of  Dr.  Hamilton  and  Rev. 
McComb  very  much  resemble  what  the  illustrious 
William  Ellery  Channing  said  again  and  again  during 
the  first  and  second  generations  of  the  nineteenth 
century;  and  what  Emerson  and  Theodore  Parker  and 
a  large  number  of  scientists  have  said  in  times  more 
recent. 

Dr.  Hamilton  evidently  expressed  an  axiom  of  sci- 
ence, when  he  said :  "Truth  is  not  revealed  to  the  human 
mind  in  an  abstract  way,  but  in  the  separate  concrete 
manifestations  of  creation."  All  truth  that  is  teach- 
able and  demonstrable  has  relation  to  some  known 
object.  There  is  no  science  of  the  unconditioned.  This 
is  precisely  what  the  Scriptures  teach;  they  teach  the 
nature  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  mode  and  manner 
of  its  orderly  evolution.  "We  must  start  in  religion 
from  our  own  souls,"  said  Dr.  Channing.  "In  these  is 
the  foundation  of  all  divine  truth.  An  outward  revela- 
tion is  only  possible  and  intelligible  on  the  ground  of 
conceptions  and  principles  previously  furnished  by  the 
soul.  Here  is  our  primitive  teacher  and  light.  Let  us 
not  disparage  it."  The  late  Horace  Bushnell  in  the 
introduction  to  his  work  Forgiveness  and  Law,  makes 
the  following  significant  observation:  "Is  it  not  time 
now,  after  so  many  centuries  gone  by,  to  have  it  dis- 
covered, that  there  is  no  truth  concerning  God  which  is 
not  somehow  explicated  by  truths  of  our  own  moral 


Introduction  xxxix 

consciousness?"  And  in  the  first  chapter  of  his  book 
he  says :  "The  fact  of  which  I  speak  is  the  grand  analogy 
or  almost  identity  that  subsists  between  our  moral 
nature  and  that  of  God." 

Dr.  Channing,  affectionately  called  the  Socrates  of 
the  New  England  school  of  Transcendentalists,  in  his 
memorable  discourse  at  the  ordination  of  the  Rev.  F. 
A.  Farley,  in  1828,  said:  "Whence  do  we  derive  our 
knowledge  of  the  attributes  and  perfections,  which 
constitute  the  Supreme  Being?  I  answer,  we  derive 
them  from  our  own  souls.  ...  In  our  own  souls  are 
the  elements  of  the  divinity.  God  then  does  not  sus- 
tain a  figurative  resemblance  to  man.  It  is  the  re- 
semblance of  a  parent  to  a  child,  the  likeness  of  a  kindred 
nature."  Emerson,  the  Plato  of  the  Western  world, 
gave  utterance  to  many  like  expressions :  "  If  a  man  is  at 
heart  just,  then,  in  so  far,  is  he  God."  These  remarks 
are  soundly  scriptural;  for  it  is  certainly  evident  that 
all  virtue  and  power  is  of  God.  "For  what  maketh  thee 
to  differ  from  another?  and  what  hast  thou  that  thou 
didst  not  receive  ?  "  ( I  Cor.  4:7).  "  That  which  may  be 
known  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  the  lives  of  the  just" 
(Rom.  1:19).  "  Can  we  find  such  a  one  as  this  is,  a  man 
in  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  is? "  (Gen.  41 :  38) .  "He  that 
hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father"  (John  14:9). 
"The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit,  that 
we  are  the  children  of  God" ;  and  if  children,  then  heirs 
of  His  power  and  of  His  righteousness  (Rom.  8:  16). 

Rome,  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  Caesars  is 
a  name  suggestive  of  marching  legions  and  the  conquest 
of  arms.  Rome  in  the  time  of  the  Caesars,  like  Egypt 
in  the  days  of  the  Pharaohs,  was  the  home  of  the  proud, 
the  rapacious,  and  the  warlike.  For  twenty  centuries 
this  name  in  fiction,  song,  and  poesy,  like  the  name 


xl  Introduction 

Caesar,  has  spelled  worldly  pomp  and  glory.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  name  Jerusalem  suggests  the  traditions 
of  the  Hebrew  people,  and  the  power  and  glory  of  the 
spiritual  life.  In  a  poetical  sense,  Jerusalem  is  the 
home  of  the  prophet.  "It  cannot  be  that  a  prophet 
perish  out  of  Jerusalem"  (Luke  13:  33).  When  we 
contemplate  the  appalling  havoc  of  the  Caesars  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  the  theatre  of  their  unexampled 
power  and  glory,  and  then  turn  to  the  spiritual  life, 
we  are  reminded  of  the  vision  of  Savonarola,  the  patriot 
of  Florence,  who  manifested  the  power  and  spirit  of 
Elias. 

I  saw  two  crosses  [said  the  prophet  of  Florence]  whereof 
the  one,  which  rose  from  the  midst  of  the  city  of  Rome,  and 
reached  even  to  the  sky,  was  black,  and  it  bore  the  inscrip- 
tion Crux  Ira  Dei  (The  Cross  of  God's  Wrath).  Imme- 
diately upon  its  appearance,  I  saw  the  sky  dark  with 
scudding  clouds  and  a  tempest  of  wind;  lightning,  thunder- 
bolts, hail,  fire,  and  hurtling  swords  arose,  and  an  immense 
multitude  of  men  were  slain  so  that  only  a  remnant  was 
left.  Thereafter,  I  saw  the  sky  grow  calm  and  clear,  and 
another  cross  rose  up,  from  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  not 
less  lofty  than  the  first,  but  of  a  splendor  so  brilliant  that  it 
illumined  all  the  world;  causing  fresh  flowers  to  spring  on 
every  side  and  joy  to  abound,  and  it  bore  the  legend,  Crux 
Misericordice  Dei  (The  Cross  of  God's  Mercy).  And  forth- 
with all  nations  of  the  earth  flocked  together  to  adore  and 
embrace  it. 

Let  us  hope  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant,  when  the 
vision  of  the  patriot  of  Florence  shall  be  realized  in  the 
moral  and  religious  unity  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
"The  fundamental  unity  of  men  in  the  family  of  God 
is  the  one  enduring  reality."  Perhaps  the  day  is  not 
far  distant  when  the  religion  given  to  the  congregation 


Introduction  xli 

of  Israel  by  Moses,  and  taught  and  demonstrated  in  the 
lives  of  all  the  truly  great,  will  be  taught  as  a  science 
in  every  institution  of  learning  worthy  of  the  name 
the  world  over;  for  it  is  self-evident,  that  there  can  be 
but  one  religion,  that  is  founded  upon  human  nature, 
that  teaches  the  identity  of  all  human  souls,  and  the 
Law  of  Human  Life ;  and  thus  scientifically  teaches  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man;  that 
teaches  that  "Order  is  Truth,"  and  that  righteousness 
is  righteousness  because  it  is  natural  and  in  harmony 
with  divine  order;  and  that  "evil  is  evil  because  it  is 
unnatural."  All  hail  to  the  Truth,  for  it  is  the  un- 
mistakable sign  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  an  ever- 
present  Reality. 

"Only  the  Metaphysical,  but  in  nowise  the  Histori- 
cal," said  Fichte, ' '  makes  our  salvation."  This  thought 
we  would  state  differently:  Only  the  Psychological, 
but  in  nowise  the  Historical,  makes  our  salvation. 
What  makes  for  salvation,  according  to  the  Scriptures, 
is  the  perfection  of  the  soul  of  man.  "Wisdom  mak- 
eth  all  things  new:  and  in  all  ages  entering  into  holy 
souls  hath  made  them  friends  of  God  and  prophets" 
(Wisd.  of  Sol.  7:  27;  Job  8:6;  Luke  i:  70;  7: 16;  Neh. 
9:  30;  Gen.  41 : 38).  This  accords  with  the  thought  of 
Spinoza,  the  famous  Jewish  philosopher.  Spinoza,  in 
a  letter  to  his  friend  Henry  Oldenburg,  said:  "I  say 
that  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  salvation  to  know 
Christ  after  the  flesh;  but  of  that  eternal  Son  of  God, 
the  eternal  Wisdom,  which  has  manifested  itself  in  all 
things,  and  especially  in  the  human  mind,  and  above  all 
in  Christ  Jesus,  we  must  have  a  far  different  opinion." 

Religion  properly  speaking  has  to  do  with  man's 
relation  to  his  Creator;  and  is  taught  in  the  Law  of  God, 
the  Law  of  Human  Life;  the  Law  that  is  revealed  in 


xlii  Introduction 

the  nature  of  the  human  soul  itself.  "We  should 
rather  point  out  to  objectors  that  what  is  revealed  is 
practical,  and  not  speculative; — that  what  the  Scrip- 
tures are  concerned  with  is,  not  the  philosophy  of  the 
Human  Mind  in  itself,  nor  yet  the  philosophy  of  the 
Divine  Nature  in  Itself,  but  (that  which  is  properly 
religion),  the  relation  and  connection  of  the  two  Beings; 
— what  God  is  to  us,  what  He  has  done  and  will  do  for 
us — and  what  we  are  to  be  and  to  do,  in  regard  to 
Him."  The  thought  just  quoted  is  attributed  to 
Richard  Whately,  late  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  a  man 
famous  in  his  day  as  a  rationalist  and  logician.  (See 
Whately 's  Sermons,  3d  ed.,  p.  56.) 

If  men  would  live  worthy  of  the  privileges  of  life,  if 
they  would  live  in  obedience  to  the  Law  of  Human  Life, 
proclaimed  by  Moses,  restored  by  Elias,  and  demon- 
strated in  some  measure  by  all  the  virtuous,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  would  not  be 
denied  an  apprehension  of  God  in  consciousness.  "If 
thou  wert  pure  and  upright;  surely  now  God  would 
awake  for  thee,  and  thy  soul  would  prosper,  and  be  an 
habitation  of  righteousness"  (Job  8:6).  "Ye  are  the 
temple  of  the  living  God ;  as  God  hath  said,  I  will  dwell 
in  them;  and  I  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my 
people"  (2  Cor.  6: 16).  Religion  is  represented  in  the 
fulfillment  of  the  Law.  Job  did  the  best  he  could  to 
live  the  true  life,  the  spiritual  life,  the  life  that  is  at- 
tuned to  conscience  and  reason.  "He  is  a  perfect  and 
upright  man,  one  who  feareth  God,  and  escheweth  evil, 
and  holdeth  fast  his  integrity."  But  his  comforters, 
it  would  seem,  "say  and  do  not";  they  are  inclined  to 
discuss  religion,  rather  than  to  live  it:  for  it  is  written 
that,  "God's  wrath  is  kindled  against  them,"  but  Job 
is  accepted.  "Him  will  I  accept"  (Job  42:7,  8). 


Introduction  xliii 

"God  is  no  respecter  of  persons:  But  in  every  nation 
he  that  feareth  Him,  and  worketh  righteousness  is 
accepted"  (Acts  10:  34,  35). 

The  Law  of  Human  Life  is  before  us;  we  must  live 
worthy  of  it,  if  we  would  be  accepted,  and  not  treat  it 
as  a  matter  of  speculation.  "The  scribes  and  the 
Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat:  All  therefore  whatsoever 
they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do,  but  do  not 
after  their  works:  for  they  say  and  do  not"  (Matt. 
23: 2,  3).  For  the  reasons  stated,  it  is  submitted  that 
the  Scriptures  constitute  a  Book  of  the  highest  conceiv- 
able importance. 

"This  is  the  Book  of  the  Commandments  of  God 
and  the  Law  that  endureth  forever:  all  they  that  keep  it 
shall  come  to  Life ;  but  such  as  leave  it  shall  die.  Turn 
thee,  0  Jacob,  and  take  hold  of  it:  walk  in  the  presence 
of  the  light  thereof,  that  thou  mayst  be  illumined.  .  .  . 
O  Israel,  happy  are  we:  for  things  that  are  pleasing  to 
God  are  made  known  unto  us.  Be  of  good  cheer,  my 
people,  the  memorial  of  Israel"  (Baruch  4:1-5). 

We  believe  that  it  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  among 
foremost  scientists  and  philosophers  in  America  and 
Europe  that  old  forms  of  religious  thought  are  discred- 
ited; in  any  event,  it  is  the  general  belief  that  they  are 
so  far  discredited  "as  to  have  lost  the  greater  part  of 
their  efficacy  for  good,  while  they  still  have  life  enough 
in  them  to  be  a  powerful  obstacle  to  the  growth  of  any 
better  opinions."  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill,  whom  we  have 
quoted  at  some  length  in  these  remarks,  affirms  that 
when  religious  thought  is  in  this  condition  all  thinking 
and  writing  that  does  not  tend  to  the  evolution  of  some 
faith  which  philosophic  minds  can  really  believe  "is  of 
very  little  value  beyond  the  moment."  It  therefore 
follows  that  if  the  theory  of  interpretation  laid  down 


xliv  Introduction 

in  the  twelve  chapters  of  this  book  does  not  result  in 
promoting  the  belief  that  the  Scriptures  accord  with 
reason,  human  experience,  and  the  known  truths  of 
science,  then  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  is  destitute  of 
real  merit ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  if  philosophic  minds 
should  be  convinced  that  the  method  of  interpretation 
set  forth  in  this  book  is  approximately  sound  in  prin- 
ciple, it  may  be  assumed  that  the  labors  of  the  author 
have  resulted  in  a  good  and  righteous  purpose;  and 
this,  we  are  constrained  to  say,  is  our  profoundest  hope. 

E.  V.  B. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

January,  1916. 


THE 
LAW  OF  HUMAN    LIFE 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  ALLEGORY  OF  ADAM,  EVE,  AND  THE  SERPENT 

PHILO  JUD^US,  a  Jewish  philosopher  and  Platonist, 
born  about  20  B.C.,  was  the  author  of  elaborate  com- 
mentaries on  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  He  did 
not  believe  in  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures; but  insisted  that  there  is  a  marked  identity 
between  the  teachings  of  Moses  and  those  of  Plato; 
in  a  word,  that  they  taught  the  same  fundamental 
truths  concerning  human  nature.  In  the  second  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  it  is  written  that  a  river  went  out  of 
Eden  to  water  the  garden;  and  that  this  river  parted 
and  became  four  rivers:  the  Pison  (the  flowing  and 
enlarging  stream),  the  stream  that  compasseth  the 
whole  land  of  gold,  the  gold  of  which  is  good;  the 
second  river,  Gihon  (the  valley  of  grace,  the  breast), 
compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Ethiopia  (the  land  of 
heat  and  passion);  and  the  third  river  goeth  to- 
ward the  east  of  Assyria.  The  name  Assyria  bears 
a  marked  resemblance  to  the  Hebrew  word,  Assir, 


2  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

that  which  should  be  restrained  and  held  captive. 
The  fourth  river,  Euphrates,  is  the  river  that  makes 
fruitful. 

Philo  says  that  this  story  of  the  rivers  is  an  allegory 
descriptive  of  the  four  generic  virtues:  Wisdom,  Valor, 
Temperance,  and  Justice.  Plato  speaks  of  Reason  as 
the  golden  virtue,  the  virtue  of  the  head,  and  says  that 
the  virtue  of  reason  is  Wisdom.  This  we  may  call  the 
flowing  and  enlarging  stream,  "the  gold  of  this  land 
is  good":  Valor,  Plato  calls  the  virtue  of  the  heart; 
it  is  the  seat  of  life,  of  emotion,  and  feeling  in  the  valley 
of  grace:  Temperance  is  the  virtue  by  which  the  sensu- 
ous and  carnal  appetites  are  restrained  and  conquered ; 
it  is  the  river  "which  goeth  towards  the  east  of  Assy- 
ria; it  "compasseth  the  whole  land  of  heat  and  desire" ; 
and  Justice  is  the  fruitful  virtue,  the  all-inclusive  virtue, 
since  it  represents  the  poise,  the  balance,  and  the  per- 
fection of  the  human  soul;  it  is  the  great  and  fruitful 
river  that  goes  forth  to  bless  (Gen.  15:18).  Philo 
would  have  us  know  that  the  Almighty  River  of 
Life  and  of  Wisdom  and  of  Righteousness  that  flows 
out  of  Eden,  the  Paradise  of  God,  is  that  which 
works  perfection  in  the  soul  of  man.  "If  a  man 
love  righteousness,  her  labors  are  Virtues:  for  she 
teacheth  Wisdom,  Courage,  Temperance,  and  Justice: 
which  are  such  things,  as  men  can  have  nothing  more 
profitable  in  their  lives'.'  (Wisd.  of  Sol.  8:7).  The 
first  duty  of  man  is  the  perfection  of  his  soul,  the 
vineyard  of  God,  to  the  end  that  it  may  bear  good 
fruit,  and  not  a  wild  variety.  "What  could  have 
been  done  more  to  my  vineyard,  that  I  have  not 
done  it?  wherefore,  when  I  looked  that  it  should 
bring  forth  grapes,  brought  it  forth  wild  grapes" 
(Isa.  5:4). 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent  3 

I 

ADAM,   EVE,    AND   THE    SERPENT,    PRINCIPLES    INHERENT   IN 
THE   SOUL  OF  MAN 

In  the  first  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Conyers 
Middleton,  D.D.,  Principal  Librarian  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  England,  wrote  a  letter  to  Dr. 
Waterland  (Middleton's  Miscellaneous  Works,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  149)  criticizing  him  for  insisting  upon  a  literal 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  Dr.  Middleton  in 
his  letter  of  criticism  said: 

"Pis  necessary  then,  for  the  satisfaction  of  our  reason, 
and  the  quieting  of  our  scruples,  to  desert  the  outward 
letter,  and  search  for  the  hidden,  allegorical  sense  of  the 
story:  I  shall  not  take  the  trouble  of  collecting  all  the  fanci- 
ful and  whimsical  solutions  of  the  Rabbins  and  Fathers; 
but  content  myself  with  proffering  one,  which  appears  to 
me  the  most  probable  and  rational  of  them  all;  viz.,  that 
by  Adam  we  are  to  understand  reason  or  the  mind  of  man ; 
by  Eve,  the  flesh  or  the  outward  senses;  by  the  serpent, 
lust  or  pleasure:  In  which  allegory  we  see  clearly  explained 
the  true  cause  of  man's  fall  and  degeneracy;  that  as  soon 
as  his  mind,  through  the  weakness  and  treachery  of  the 
senses,  became  captivated  and  seduced  by  the  allurements 
of  lust  and  pleasure,  he  was  driven  by  God  out  of  Paradise; 
that  is,  lost  and  forfeited  the  happiness  and  prosperity 
which  he  had  enjoyed  in  his  innocence.  All  this  is  intel- 
ligible and  rational ;  agreeable  not  only  to  common  notions 
and  traditions  of  history  but  to  the  constant  and  established 
method  of  God's  providence,  which  has  wisely  constituted 
misery,  sorrow,  and  the  debasement  of  our  nature,  to  be  the 
natural  and  necessary  effect  of  vice  and  sin. 

This  interpretation  is  embraced  by  several  of  the  ancients; 
particularly  by  St.  Augustine;  who  tells  us  that  "the  same 
thing  is  acted  over  again  in  every  one  of  us,  as  often  as  we 


4  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

fall  into  sin,  that  was  represented  by  the  serpent,  the  wo- 
man, and  the  man:  for  there  is  first,"  says  he,  "a  suggestion 
or  insinuation ;  either  by  a  thought  or  the  senses  of  the  body: 
by  which  if  our  inclination  is  not  prevailed  with  to  sin,  then 
is  the  subtlety  of  the  serpent  baffled  and  banished:  but  if  it 
is  prevailed  with,  then  we  yield,  as  it  were  to  the  persuasions 
of  the  woman;  and  when  our  reason  has  thus  consented  to 
execute  what  our  lust  had  moved,  then  is  man  effectually 
driven  out  and  expelled  from  all  possession  of  happiness, 
as  from  a  paradise." 

Now  whatever  opinion  this  Father  might  on  other  occa- 
sions declare,  yet  at  the  time  of  writing  the  book,  whence 
this  passage  is  taken,  he  was  persuaded  that  in  the  history 
of  the  creation  and  the  fall  of  man,  we  could  not  avoid  ab- 
surdities and  blasphemy  toward  God,  without  giving  up 
the  literal  meaning,  and  trusting  wholly  to  an  allegorical 
explanation  of  it. 

If  the  Scriptures  are  founded  in  wisdom,  then  they 
must  announce  principles;  and  these  principles  must 
carry  on  their  face  the  evidence  of  their  divine  origin. 
The  first  requisite  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures is  to  be  able  to  see  beyond  their  historic  veil. 
Paul  would  have  us  know  that  the  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures  is  allied  to  prophecy.  "He  that  prophe- 
sieth  is  greater  than  he  that  speaketh  with  tongues, 
except  that  he  interpret,  that  the  Church  [the  people 
of  God]  may  receive  edifying"  (i  Cor.  14:5).  Peter, 
in  a  striking  epigram,  tells  us  that  the  Scriptures  pro- 
claim principles:  "Know  this  first,  that  no  prophecy 
of  Scripture  is  of  any  private  interpretation."  Jesus 
insisted  that  the  Pharisees  had  transgressed  and  made 
the  Word  of  God  of  no  effect  by  their  traditions  (Matt. 
15:3,6). 

If  every  human  soul  is  builded  after  the  same  divine 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent  5 

pattern,  the  pattern  shown  Moses  on  the  mount,  then 
it  is  fair  to  say,  that  there  is  a  Law  common  to  all 
souls.  St .  Augustine  was  justified,  therefore,  in  saying 
that  "the  same  thing  is  acted  over  again,  in  every  one 
of  us,  as  often  as  we  fall  into  sin,  that  was  represented 
by  the  serpent,  the  woman,  and  the  man."  Principles 
have  no  anniversary;  they  are  above  time  and  place. 
He  speaks  with  authority  who  announces  and  demon- 
strates principles;  for  what  he  says  is  forever  true: 
"Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words 
shall  not  pass  away." 

"I  firmly  believe,"  says  William  Ellery  Channing, 
"that  the  only  truth  which  is  to  do  men  lasting  good 
is  that  which  relates  to  the  soul,  which  carries  them  into 
its  depths,  which  reveals  to  them  its  powers  and  the 
purposes  of  its  creation.  The  progress  of  society  is 
retarded  by  nothing  more,  than  by  the  low  views  which 
its  leaders  are  accustomed  to  take  of  human  nature." 
Men  do  not  realize  the  dignity  of  human  nature.  It 
is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  even  intelligent  men  as 
the  world  judges  them  have  no  fixed  or  certain  con- 
ception of  human  nature. 

In  the  present  state  of  society,  men  have  no  just 
respect  for  themselves;  and  as  a  consequence,  no  just 
respect  for  others,  because  of  their  ignorance  concern- 
ing the  nature  of  man.  Men  do  not  think,  much  less 
meditate,  on  the  deep  things  of  human  life.  Ministers 
and  teachers  of  religion  talk  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
and  the  brotherhood  of  man  without  ever  stating  a 
single  well-defined  principle  in  support  of  what  they 
say.  Their  discourses  are  often  founded  upon  some 
abstract  metaphysical  idea,  entirely  divorced  from 
human  nature. 

If  it  be  true  that  Adam  is  mind;  and  that  man  is 


6  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

man  because  of  his  mentality;  and  that  Eve  represents 
the  heart,  the  seat  of  the  emotions  and  the  affections; 
and  the  serpent  the  lower  or  animal  principle  of  the 
soul,  then  it  is  submitted,  that  we  have  a  fixed  and 
certain  basis  for  believing  in  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  All  human  souls  are 
alike  in  their  essential  nature,  and  have  One  Creator. 
"Have  we  not  all  One  Father.  Hath  not  One  God 
created  us  all?"  (Mai.  2  :  10).  The  office  of  the 
mind  is  to  govern;  but  there  is  an  old  adage  that 
suggests  much:  "All  head  a  tyrant,  all  heart  a 
fool."  A  righteous  heart  is  the  natural  ally  of  a 
just  mind  as  the  Scriptures  teach,  and  the  poets 
have  sung. 

Man  for  the  field,  and  woman  for  the  hearth; 
Man  for  the  sword,  and  for  the  needle  she: 
Man  with  the  head,  and  woman  with  the  heart: 
Man  to  command,  and  woman  to  obey; 
All  else  is  confusion. 

TENNYSON  :  The  Princess. 

Ancient  Wisdom  says  that  there  is  One  Mind  that 
predisposes  all  things.  The  Scriptures  teach  this  from 
first  to  last.  Emerson  in  his  essay  on  History,  says: 
"There  is  one  mind  common  to  all  men.  Every  man 
is  an  inlet  to  the  same  and  to  all  of  the  same."  Man 
is  man  because  of  his  mentality.  A  pure  mind  is  the 
image  and  glory  of  God.  "The  lot  [the  capacity  of 
choice]  is  cast  into  the  lap  [of  man];  but  the  whole 
disposing  thereof  is  of  the  Lord ' '  (Prov.  16:33).  "Not 
by  virtue  of  material  strength  and  political  power  shall 
ye  prevail,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord"  (Zech. 
4:6;  Job  33:  4;  Wisdom  15: 1 1).  Peter  says  that  they 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent  7 

who  have  "escaped  the  corruptions  of  the  world  are 
partakers  of  the  divine  nature." 

Man  has  an  animal  body:  "And  the  Lord  God  formed 
the  body  of  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth"  (Gen. 
2:7);  but  within  the  body  of  man  is  a  living  soul.  "And 
the  Lord  God  took  the  Man  [Adam,  reason]  and  put 
him  into  the  Garden  of  Eden  [the  human  soul]  to  dress 
it  and  to  keep  it.  And  the  Lord  God  commanded 
Man,  saying,  Of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou  mayst 
freely  eat :  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it:  for  in  the  day  that  thou 
eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die."  The  Lord  is  here 
represented  as  saying  that  man  may  feed  upon  any 
and  all  knowledge,  no  matter  upon  what  tree  it  grows, 
except  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 
The  Lord  God  only  inhibits  knowledge  from  one  source. 
Where  is  this  tree  of  death  situate  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  the  garden  of  Wisdom,  "the  garden  of  righteous- 
ness" (Enoch  32:3,  6).  What  is  this  inhibited  tree? 
It  is  the  lower  principle  of  the  human  soul.  What  is 
the  fruit  of  this  tree?  It  is  "the  works  of  the  flesh" 
(Gal.  5:  19-21).  To  eat  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil  is  to  live  the  sensuous  life;  to  eat  of  the 
fruit  of  "the  tree  of  Life  in  the  midst  of  the  garden" 
is  to  live  a  life  of  virtue.  Man  is  to  look  to  God  for 
knowledge,  and  not  take  counsel  of  his  carnal  nature. 
"Behold,  I  will  rain  bread  from  heaven  for  you;  and 
the  people  shall  go  out  and  gather  a  certain  portion 
every  day,  that  I  may  prove  them,  whether  they  will 
walk  in  my  Law  or  no"  (Ex.  16:  4). 

In  the  day  that  man  takes  counsel  of  his  carnal  ap- 
petites, he  abandons  God,  the  source  of  truth,  life,  and 
wisdom,  and  unites  himself  to  that  principle  that  coun- 
sels death.  He  who  is  led  and  urged  on  by  the  wiles 


8  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  his  lower  nature  is  the  victim  of  envy,  hate,  lust, 
hypocrisy,  falsehood,  greed,  revenge,  malice,  and  mur- 
der, the  seed  of  Satan.  Mind  pure  and  holy  is  the 
image  and  glory  of  God;  but  when  dethroned  it  is 
the  fallen  king  of  Tyrus.  "Thou  hast  been  in  Eden 
the  garden  of  God;  every  precious  stone  was  thy  cover- 
ing; thou  wast  upon  the  mountain  of  God;  thou  hast 
walked  up  and  down  in  the  midst  of  the  stones  of  fire. 
Thou  wast  perfect  in  thy  way  from  the  day  that  thou 
wast  created,  till  iniquity  was  found  in  thee.  Thou 
hast  sinned;  therefore,  I  will  cast  thee  as  profane  out 
of  the  mountain  of  God"  (Ezek.  28: 12-16). 
[  A  righteous  human  soul  is  "the  garden  of  God"; 
and  a  sinful  one  resembles  "a  spacious  garden  full  of 
flowering  weeds."  Tennyson,  in  a  paraphrase  on  his 
poem,  The  Palace  of  Art,  said: 

I  send  you  here  a  sort  of  allegory — of  a  soul, 
A  sinful  soul,  possessed  of  many  gifts, 
A  spacious  garden  full  of  flowering  weeds, 
A  glorious  devil,  large  in  heart  and  brain, 
That  did  love  beauty  only — beauty  seen 
In  all  varieties  of  mould  and  mind. 

Adam,  faithful  in  the  garden  of  God,  is  the  master  of 
all  he  surveys;  he  is  admitted  to  the  secrets  of  heaven; 
he  walks  in  the  midst  of  the  stones  of  fire ;  he  is  above 
all  carnal  things,  upon  the  holy  mountain  of  God.  The 
high  and  holy  office  of  Adam  is  the  perfection  of  the 
soul,  the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  paradise  of  God;  he  is 
put  into  the  garden  "to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it."  But 
when  Adam  abandons  his  high  and  holy  office  and 
throws  himself  down  to  the  plane  of  animalism,  then 
is  Adam  fallen,  then  is  the  soul  abandoned,  then  is  man 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent  9 

driven  out  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  then  is  paradise 
lost. 

The  Lord  God  in  the  infinitude  of  His  wisdom  and 
mercy  would  ransom  and  save  from  death  His  fallen 
children.  He  would  have  them  in  his  holy  mountain 
amidst  the  stones  of  fire;  and  to  this  end  His  Holy 
Spirit  like  a  flaming  sword  turns  in  every  direction  that 
it  may  point  "the  way  of  the  tree  of  Life."  Virtue 
abides  in  paradise.  A  virtuous  human  soul  is  the  par- 
adise of  God,  the  Garden  of  Eden.  "  Do  you  not  know 
that  your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  living  God?"  The 
Almighty  river  that  "goes  out  of  Eden  to  water  the 
garden" ;  and  becomes  four  rivers  of  virtue,  bears  abun- 
dant fruit.  "Wisdom  maketh  all  things  new:  and  in 
all  ages  entering  into  holy  souls,  she  maketh  them 
friends  of  God,  and  prophets"  (Wisd.  of  Sol.  7:  27). 

The  allegory  under  consideration  brings  before  the 
mind's  eye  the  profoundest  truths  of  human  nature;  it 
presents  them  scientifically,  and  with  a  brevity  unex- 
ampled in  literature;  ideas  that  ordinarily  would  fill 
volumes  are  abridged  into  a  few  sentences.  The  soul 
of  man  is  first  presented  to  us  with  its  principles  in  their 
right  order.  Adam  exercises  dominion ;  he  gives  names 
to  the  animal  creation;  and  Eve,  the  representative 
of  the  heart,  is  his  helpmeet,  his  ally.  A  virtuous 
heart  is  forever  the  ally  of  reason. 

But  in  the  next  scene,  we  view  the  soul  in  a  state  of 
chaos.  The  Garden  of  Eden  is  desecrated;  Eve  is 
debauched,  and  Adam  is  fallen.  "And  they  heard  the 
voice  of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  the  garden  in  the 
cool  of  the  day;  and  Adam  and  Eve  hid  themselves 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord."  When  the  voice  of 
God,  the  Holy  Spirit,  walks  in  His  garden,  and  finds 
it  desecrated,  then  is  there  fear  and  terror. 


io  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

O,  Conscience,  into  what  abyss  of  fears 

And  horrors  hast  thou  driven  me !     Out  of  which 

I  find  no  way;  from  deep  to  deeper  plunged. 

MILTON. 

Adam  and  Eve  desire  above  all  to  hear  the  Divine 
Voice  as  long  as  they  are  faithful.  Into  every  righteous 
soul  there  comes  an  inspiration,  a  joy,  a  calm  that 
makes  all  earthly  things  seem  poor  and  cheap  indeed. 
"If  our  hearts  [our  conscience]  condemn  us  not,  then 
have  we  peace  with  God." 

;  I  feel  within  me 

A  peace  above  all  earthly  dignities — 
A  still  and  quiet  conscience. 

Henry  VIII. 

"And  the  Lord  God  called  unto  Adam,  and  said 
unto  him,  Where  art  thou?  And  he  said,  I  heard  thy 
voice  in  the  garden,  and  I  was  afraid,  because  I  was 
naked;  and  I  hid  myself.  And  He  said,  Who  told  thee 
that  thou  wast  naked?"  It  is  conscience;  it  is  the 
Holy  Spirit  within  us,  that  tells  us  we  are  naked,  and 
helpless,  and  deserted.  When  the  mind  and  heart  are 
corrupted,  man  is  in  need  of  fig  leaves.  It  is  the  Holy 
Spirit  that  tells  Adam  and  Eve  they  have  sacrificed 
paradise.  "Who  told  thee  that  thou  wast  naked?" 
This  recalls  a  statement  in  an  interesting  little  book 
by  Caroline  E.  Stephen:  Quaker  Strongholds:  "Yes,  I 
have  been  conscious  of  a  power  within  making  mani- 
fest to  me  my  sins  and  errors,  and  I  have  indeed  expe- 
rienced its  healing  and  emancipating  power  as  well 
as  its  fiery  purgings  and  bitter  condemnations.  That 
which  has  shown  me  my  fault  has  healed  me;  the  Light 
has  led  and  is  leading  me  out  of  the  abyss,  nearer  and 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          11 

nearer  to  its  own  Eternal  Source;  and  I  know  that,  in 
so  far  as  I  am  obedient  to  It,  I  am  safe." 

Innocence,  that  as  a  veil 

Had  shadowed  them  from  knowing  ill,  was  gone, 
Just  confidence,  and  native  righteousness, 
And  honour  from  above  them,  naked,  left 
To  guilty  shame. 

MILTON  :  Paradise  Lost. 

The  idea  that  a  pure  mind  is  the  image  and  likeness 
of  God,  and  that  the  Spirit  of  God  acts  directly  upon 
the  human  Mind  and  Heart,  and  that  It  is  paternal  is 
an  essential  and  central  thought  of  religion.  This  is 
the  most  glorious  and  edifying  thought  that  the  mind 
of  man  can  contemplate.  Religion  is  founded  upon  the 
idea  that  there  is  a  Spiritual  kingdom  that  transcends 
the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world,  and  that  a  just  and 
upright  human  soul  is  related  to  this  holy  kingdom, 
and  is  a  conscious  organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  who 
is  in  this  kingdom  is  "in  Eden  the  Garden  of  God"; 
in  a  virtuous  soul;  and  such  a  one  is  said  to  be  on  the 
mountain  of  God  walking  up  and  down  "in  the  midst 
of  the  stones  of  fire."  This  world  is  animal.  ' '  A  friend 
of  the  world  is  the  enemy  of  God,"  says  James.  "My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  if  my  kingdom  were  of 
this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight."  Adam 
and  Eve,  the  mind  and  the  heart,  when  faithful  to  God, 
are  related  to  His  kingdom  and  are  in  paradise;  but 
when  they  are  seduced  by  the  wiles  of  the  serpent,  the 
representative  of  the  carnal  and  animal  world,  then 
they  are  of  the  world,  and  are  at  enmity  with  God. 
"And  the  Lord  God  formed  the  body  of  man  out  of  the 
dust  of  the  earth"  (Gen.  2:7).  The  earth  is  animal 
and  serpentine.  Man  has  an  animal  body;  and  the 


12  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

lower  principle  of  the  human  soul  relates  man  to  the 
world;  but  the  mind  of  man  is  spiritual,  and  it  relates 
him  to  a  kingdom  that  transcends  the  animal  kingdom. 
A  pure  mind  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God. 

The  idea  that  the  lower  principle  of  the  human  soul 
relates  man  to  the  sensuous  animal  world  is  taught  in 
mythology,  in  Greek  philosophy;  and  it  was  also  taught 
in  a  vague  way  by  the  Schoolmen  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
Renn  D.  Hampden  in  his  Bampton  Lectures,  1832,  on 
The  Scholastic  Philosophy  (See  Lecture  6),  said:  "Grace 
[The  Spirit  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man],  was  the  Virtue 
of  Conquest, — that  by  which  the  fuel  [fomes]  of  Con- 
cupiscence— the  lust  of  the  flesh — was  subdued  and 
quenched.  For  this  was  the  earthly  principle, — that 
which  turned  away  the  soul  from  God;  the  direct  con- 
trary, therefore,  to  the  principle  of  Grace,  by  which  the 
soul  is  turned  to  God.  .  .  .  Hence,  the  rigid  rule  of  a  life 
of  celibacy  was  established,  as  the  perfection  of  moral- 
ity." This  we  may  call  Dr.  Hampden' s  summing  up  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  Schoolmen — denominated  "Original 
sin." 

Adam  when  told  of  his  disloyalty,  lays  the  blame  on 
the  woman,  on  a  debauched  heart.  "And  the  Lord 
God  said  unto  the  woman,  What  is  this  that  thou  hast 
done?  And  the  woman  said,  The  serpent  beguiled  me, 
and  I  did  eat."  This  is  the  ever  recurring  doctrine  of 
ancient  wisdom.  Evil  has  its  origin  in  the  lower  prin- 
ciple of  the  human  soul,  represented  in  the  Scriptures 
by  several  symbols;  Egypt,  the  goat,  the  serpent,  the 
flesh,  and  the  earth.  All  the  iniquities  of  man  are 
laid  upon  the  head  of  the  goat.  Falsehood,  hypocrisy, 
lust,  greed,  envy,  malice,  revenge,  and  murder  are  the 
seed  of  Satan ;  they  make  manifest  the  traits  of  animal- 
ism that  still  adhere  in  the  souls  of  unregenerate  men. 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          13 

These  traits  represent  the  animals,  that  Hercules, 
the  Greek  Jesus,  utterly  destroyed  before  he  was 
banqueted  by  the  gods  upon  Mount  Ida. 

The  curse  of  God  is  laid  upon  the  serpent.  "Thou 
art  cursed,  upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  shalt 
thou  eat  all  the  days  of  thy  life."  The  animal  nature 
of  man  has  its  day,  but  it  is  doomed.  "The  flesh 
warreth  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against  the 
flesh:  and  these  are  contrary  one  to  the  other"  (Gal. 
5:17).  All  glory  and  honor  to  the  Lord  God  of  Israel; 
for  he  promises  an  heavenly  victory  to  Adam;  but  let 
us  see  how  this  glorious  victory  is  to  be  accomplished. 

"And  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  [the  serpent], 
and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed; 
thy  seed  shall  bruise  her  head  and  she  shall  set  her  heel 
upon  thee"  (Gen.  3:15).  "The  dragon  shalt  thou 
trample  under  foot."  "The  head  of  the  woman  is  the 
Man,"  Adam,  Reason  (i  Cor.  11:3).  When  the  wo- 
man— the  affections  of  the  heart — are  debauched,  then 
is  reason  bruised,  baffled,  and  confounded  by  the  seed 
of  the  serpent;  then  is  the  house  divided  against  itself, 
then  is  Adam  the  victim  of  heresy  and  of  superstition, 
then  is  man  importuned  to  go  in  every  direction  except 
the  right  one,  then  is  man  fallen,  then  is  the  curse  of 
heaven  upon  him. 

Honor  and  glory  to  God,  for  he  has  planned  the  way 
of  salvation.  In  the  evolution  of  the  soul  of  man,  en- 
mity springs  up  between  the  seed  of  the  woman,  the 
affections  of  the  heart,  and  the  seed  of  Satan.  This 
enmity,  this  hatred  of  evil,  that  springs  up  in  the  human 
heart  makes  the  affections  the  ally  of  reason.  When 
the  affections  are  allied  with  right  reason,  then  does  the 
Lord  God  walk  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  then  is  His  voice 
heard,  not  with  fear,  but  with  inexpressible  joy,  then 


14  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

is  Adam  in  paradise,  then  is  the  king  of  Tyrus  risen, 
then  is  the  serpent  conquered,  then  does  the  woman 
put  her  heel  upon  him.  "The  Lord  doth  put  a  differ- 
ence between  the  Egyptians  and  the  Israelites"  (Ex. 

«:7). 

This  brief  yet  singularly  inclusive  allegory,  puts 
before  us  the  principles  inherent  in  the  human  soul 
first  in  their  right  order.  Adam  in  paradise  is  the 
image  of  his  Creator;  he  has  dominion  over  the  animal 
world;  he  gives  names  to  all  living  creatures.  Plato 
tells  us  that  wisdom  gives  names  to  things  according 
to  their  innermost  essence;  and  that  when  the  character 
of  a  thing  is  changed,  then  it  is  to  be  given  a  new  name 
to  correspond  with  its  new  character.  In  a  word,  that 
a  fixed  analogy  exists  between  the  name  of  a  thing  and 
the  thing  itself;  and  that  language,  therefore,  is  not 
arbitrary  in  its  origin,  but  is  in  harmony  with  the  divine 
order.  "Have  regard  to  thy  name,  thy  character; 
for  that  shall  continue  with  thee  above  a  thousand 
great  treasures  of  gold"  (Jesus  Son  of  Sir.  41 : 12). 

The  great  are  they  who  cultivate  the  virtues,  who 
seek  perfection  of  character.  They  who  have  over- 
come the  temptations  of  the  animal  world  and  are  re- 
lated to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  are  given  new  names. 
"To  him  that  overcome th  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  hid- 
den manna,  and  I  will  give  him  a  white  stone,  and  in  the 
stone  a  new  name  written,  which  no  man  knoweth 
save  he  that  receiveth  it"  (Rev.  2:  17).  Character  is 
hidden,  it  is  in  the  depths  of  the  soul ;  it  feeds  upon  the 
manna  of  heaven,  the  highest  knowledge,  and  it  is  like 
a  pure  white  stone,  that  endures  forever,  and  no  man 
knows  what  it  is  like,  except  him  "that  receiveth  it." 
"The  inner  man,"  says  Paul,  "is  renewed  from  day  to 
day."  This  is  the  law  of  evolution.  Charles  Darwin 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          15 

made  a  like  remark,  when  he  said:  "Evolution  proceeds 
by  numerous,  successive,  and  slight  modifications." 

In  the  Scriptures,  we  read  of  many  whose  names  were 
changed;  their  names  were  changed  because  they  had 
passed  "from  character  to  character,"  and  because 
they  had  attained  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection,  and 
were  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Abram,  when 
he  had  overcome  the  world,  is  named  Abraham,  the 
father  of  nations,  the  father  of  mankind;  Sara,  when 
she  triumphs  over  the  serpent,  and  puts  her  heel  upon 
him,  is  called  Sarah,  the  princess,  the  righteous  mother. 
Joseph,  the  Master,  who  "ruled  over  all  the  land  of 
Egypt,"  was  named  (Gen.  41:45)  the  prince  of  life. 
Jacob,  when  he  had  wrestled  on  the  side  of  virtue  and 
won,  is  surnamed  Israel,  he  who  hath  prevailed  with  God. 
Jesus  is  called  Christ,  the  divine  Word;  and  Peter  is 
given  a  new  name  by  Jesus,  Simon  Bar-jona,  the  son 
of  the  dove,  the  son  of  the  Spirit.  He  who  is  related  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God  is  a  conscious  organ  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  is  capable  of  giving  names  to  creatures  and 
things  according  to  their  innermost  nature.  They 
who  are  related  to  the  spiritual  kingdom  affirm  the 
truth;  for  they  are  attuned  to  the  truth.  "To  this 
end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world, 
that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.  Every 
one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my  voice."  Every 
one  that  loves  the  truth  knows  that  I  speak  it. 

The  preceding  are  the  names  of  some  who  were 
drawn  out  of  the  water,  who  were  born  of  water  and 
of  the  Spirit.  They  are  those  upon  whom  the  Holy 
Spirit  descended,  symbolized  by  the  dove;  like  Peter, 
they  are  the  sons  of  the  dove,  the  sons  of  God;  they 
are  "teachers  come  from  God";  they  "bear  witness 
unto  the  truth."  They  are  the  "blessed."  They  love 


16  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

righteousness,  and  hate  wickedness;  they  are  those 
whom  God  hath  anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness 
above  their  fellows  (Ps.  45:7).  They  represent  the 
faith  of  knowledge,  as  distinguished  from  the  faith  of 
conjecture.  Their  faith  in  God  is  as  firm  as  the  eternal 
stone,  the  symbol  of  true  faith. 

Jesus  asked  his  disciples,  saying,  "Whom  do  men 
say  that  I  the  son  of  man  am?  And  they  said,  Some 
say  that  thou  art  John  the  Baptist:  some  Elias;  and 
others  Jeremias,  or  one  of  the  prophets.  He  said  unto 
them,  But  whom  say  ye  that  I  am?  And  Simon  Peter 
answered  and  said,  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  son  of  the 
living  God.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him, 
Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona:  for  flesh  and  blood 
hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is 
in  heaven.  And  I  say  unto  thee,  That  thou  art  Peter 
[the  white  stone,  the  symbol  of  character  and  of  faith], 
and  upon  this  stone  I  build  my  church  [the  fraternity 
of  the  just];  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven:  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on 
earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven:  and  whatsoever  thou 
shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven"  (Matt. 
16: 14-19). 

The  Church,  the  fraternity  of  the  just,  represented 
by  Jesus  Christ,  and  all  the  righteous,  is  founded  upon 
character  and  faith.  Man  has  as  much  faith  in  God 
as  he  has  character,  and  as  much  character  as  faith; 
so,  in  essence,  faith  and  character  are  one  and  insepar- 
able, and  are  represented  by  the  white  stone  that  en- 
dureth  forever;  and  "hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 
The  just  make  manifest  the  power  and  Spirit  of  God. 
"That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  made  manifest 
in  the  lives  of  the  just"  (Rom.  1 : 19).  Jesus  said  unto 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          17 

Philip,  "Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet 
hast  thou  not  known  me,  Philip?  he  that  hath  seen  me 
hath  seen  the  Father"  (John  14:9).  "Holy  men  of 
God  speak  as  they  are  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost"  (2 
Peter  1:21).  "  God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  His 
holy  prophets,  which  have  been  since  the  world  began" 
(Luke  1 :  70).  "Wisdom  in  all  ages  entering  into  holy 
souls  hath  made  them  friends  of  God,  and  prophets," 
(Wisd.  of  Sol.  7 :  27).  The  just  are  the  organs  of  truth; 
they  who  are  disregardful  of  the  truth  are  bound  in 
heaven  and  earth,  and  they  who  are  faithful  to  it  are 
free  in  heaven  and  earth.  "Know  the  truth,  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free"  (John  8:  32). 

The  Universal  Reason,  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Com- 
forter, the  Spirit  of  Truth,  the  Divine  Word,  when  it 
possesses  the  soul  of  man,  speaks  the  truth  in  any  pre- 
sence. "O  Nebuchadnezzar,  we  are  not  careful  to 
answer  thee  in  this  matter  ...  Be  it  known  unto  thee, 
O  king,  that  we  will  not  serve  thy  gods,  nor  worship 
thy  golden  image  which  thou  hast  set  up.  Then  was 
Nebuchadnezzar  full  of  fury"  (Dan.  3:  16-19).  When 
the  disciples  of  Jesus  were  brought  before  the  Sanhe- 
drin,  they  proclaimed  themselves  the  organs  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  "Then  Peter  and  the  other  apostles  answered 
and  said,  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  man." 
They  spoke  as  they  did  because  they  were  the  organs 
of  "the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  God  hath  given  to  them  that 
obey  him"  (Acts  5:29,  32).  Gamaliel,  a  famous 
doctor  of  the  Law,  cautioned  those  of  the  Sanhedrin, 
and  said:  "If  this  work  be  of  men,  it  will  come  to 
nought;  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot  overthrow  it" 
(Acts  5:38,  39).  Socrates  said  to  the  judges  who  de- 
creed his  death:  "Men  of  Athens,  I  honor  and  love 
you,  but  I  must  obey  God  rather  than  you." 


1 8  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Socrates  bade  Alcibiades  to  wait  for  a  teacher  who 
would  direct  his  prayer.  "When  will  that  time  come," 
asks  Alcibiades,  "and  who  shall  be  my  teacher?"  "It 
is  one  who  careth  for  thee,"  replied  the  philosopher, 
"and  he  shall  remove  the  mist  which  now  envelops 
your  mind,  that  ye  may  discern  what  is  good  and  what 
is  evil"  (Plato's  Alcibiades,  part  ii.).  "I  perceive," 
says  Peter,  "that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons;  but 
in  every  nation,  he  that  feareth  God,  and  worketh  right- 
eousness, is  accepted"  (Acts  10:34). 

In  the  allegory  of  Adam,  Eve,  and  the  serpent,  the 
principles  of  the  human  soul  are  first  shown  in  their 
right  order.  Adam  is  at  the  summit  of  the  temple 
exercising  the  dominion  given  of  God  over  all  below 
him;  and  Eve  is  his  helpmeet  and  faithful  ally;  and 
thus  the  soul  stands  in  a  right  relation  to  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  and  is  responsive  to  the  will  of  heaven;  and 
Adam  and  Eve  are  in  paradise;  but  in  the  next  scene, 
the  serpent  has  gained  the  ascendancy,  Eve  is  de- 
bauched and  Adam  is  fallen.  Paradise  is  lost,  and 
anarchy,  confusion,  fear,  and  death  reign.  When  the 
divine  order  within  the  soul  is  inverted,  it  ceases  to  be 
the  organ  of  truth.  The  fallen  Adam,  the  sensual 
man,  the  animal  man,  sacrifices  his  birthright  for  pot- 
tage, he  sacrifices  all  for  the  gratification  of  his  carnal 
desires;  he  lives  on  that  plane  of  consciousness  desig- 
nated by  the  sign  Scorpio  (Hosea  13:13);  and  his 
horror  and  fear  of  death  is  measured  by  his  wickedness. 

'Tis  too  horrible; 

The  weariest  and  most  loathed  earthly  life 
Which  age,  ache,  penury,  and  imprisonment 
Can  lay  on  nature,  is  a  paradise 
To  what  we  fear  of  death. 

Measure  for  Measure,  3:1. 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          19 

When  Moses,  the  master  and  servant  of  God,  went 
down  into  Egypt  to  lead  the  children  of  Israel  out  of 
the  bondage  of  carnality,  his  soul  was  upright  before 
God ;  it  was  the  organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  God  speaks 
through  Moses  (Luke  1:70).  "Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel,  Let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  hold 
a  feast  unto  me  in  the  wilderness.  And  Pharaoh  said, 
Who  is  the  Lord,  that  I  should  obey  his  voice  to  let 
Israel  go?  I  know  not  the  Lord,  neither  will  I  let 
Israel  go"  (Ex.  5:  I,  2).  When  the  lower  principle  of 
the  soul  is  in  the  ascendancy,  then  is  man  unregenerate ; 
then  is  he  in  bondage;  then  is  he  the  victim  of  envy, 
hypocrisy,  superstition,  heresy,  conceit,  falsehood, 
malice,  greed,  lust,  and  revenge;  then  is  he  led  by  these 
several  devils  in  every  direction  except  the  right  one; 
then  does  he  seek  to  exploit  others;  then  does  he  blas- 
pheme and  deny  that  God  is.  "Who  is  the  Lord  that 
I  should  obey  his  voice?"  The  carnally  minded  are 
incapable  of  perceiving  truth  except  in  its  most  out- 
ward form.  Emerson  in  his  tribute  to  Theodore 
Parker  said:  "The  opinions  of  men  are  organic."  Men 
do  what  they  do  because  they  are  inwardly  what  they 
are.  The  soul  of  man  is  the  organ  of  truth  to  the  ex- 
tent that  it  is  conformed  to  the  divine  order.  All 
things  are  destined  to  conform  to  the  divine  order. 
"Elias  must  first  come  .  .  .  and  restore  all  things" 
(Matt.  17:10,  n).  "Why  do  you  not  understand 
my  speech?  even  because  ye  cannot  hear  my  word" 
(John  8:43).  The  soul  must  be  attuned  to  truth  if 
it  would  hear  it.  How  much  there  is  in  the  ani- 
mal world  that  tends  to  the  disfiguration  of  the 
soul  of  man;  and  what  infinite  beauty  there  is  in 
the  Kingdom  of  God  that  points  the  way  of  its 
transfiguration ! 


20  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

II 

CAIN,   ABEL,   AND   SETH,   THE   SONS   OF  ADAM  AND  EVE 

In  the  fourth  chapter  of  Genesis,  the  allegory  of 
Adam  and  Eve  introduces  new  features;  we  are  now 
to  contemplate  some  very  exact  statements  concern- 
ing human  nature,  and  the  mode  and  manner  of  the 
soul's  evolution.  In  this  chapter  Adam  and  Eve  are 
represented  as  two  individuals,  as  man  and  wife. 

"And  Adam  knew  Eve  his  wife,  and  she  conceived, 
and  bear  Cain,  and  said,  I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the 
Lord."  Eve's  thought  we  would  express  thus:  I 
have  gotten  from  the  Lord  a  potential  man.  It  ap- 
pears that  the  names:  Cain,  Abel,  and  Seth  describe 
three  states  of  human  consciousness,  the  lower,  the 
intermediary,  and  the  higher.  Mankind  upon  the 
earth,  at  any  and  all  times,  may  be  divided  into  three 
classes,  represented  by  Cain,  Abel,  and  Seth.  Man 
in  his  evolution  is  first  a  Cain,  then  an  Abel,  and  lastly 
a  Seth. 

Cain  is  the  first-born  in  time;  he  is  the  primitive 
man;  he  represents  man  at  his  nadir.  He  stands  at 
the  foot  of  the  ladder,  which  he  can  ascend  only  by 
righteous  endeavor.  "If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou 
not  be  accepted?"  (Gen.  4:7).  The  mind  is  the  man; 
it  is  from  God.  "I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord." 
The  body  is  animal;  it  is  of  the  earth.  The  soul  is  the 
intermediary  and  containing.  "The  soul  makes  the 
body  as  the  snail  makes  its  shell,"  said  Charles  Kingsley. 

For,  of  the  soul,  the  body  form  doth  take, 
For  the  soul  is  form,  and  doth  the  body  make. 

SPENSER:  An  Hymne  in  Honour  of  Beautie. 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          21 

The  soul  which  has  never  perceived  the  truth,  says 
Plato,  cannot  pass  into  the  human  form,  and  that, 
nothing  is  more  akin  to  wisdom  than  truth.  Cain  par- 
takes of  the  human ;  but  he  is  more  animal  than  human. 
His  soul  is  not  upright  before  God;  it  is  not  conformed 
to  the  divine  order.  Thomas  Carlyle,  when  comment- 
ing on  the  nature  of  truth,  said:  "Order  is  Truth,— 
each  thing  standing  on  the  basis  that  belongs  to  it: 
Order  and  Falsehood  cannot  subsist  together";  and 
again  he  says:  "Man  is  the  son  of  Order,  not  of  Dis- 
order; his  mission  is  Order."  "To  this  end  was  I 
born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I 
should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.  Every  one  that 
is  of  the  truth  heareth  my  voice"  (John  18:  37). 

Cain  was  carnal  and  sensual.  "Cain  was  a  tiller 
of  the  earth."  The  earth  is  animal  and  serpentine. 
Cain  worships  Mammon,  the  god  of  the  world;  his 
offering  is  "  the  fruit  of  the  ground."  Unto  Cain  and  his 
offering  the  Lord  had  no  respect;  and  Cain  was  very 
wroth,  and  his  countenance  fell.  This  is  the  attitude 
of  Cain  and  of  every  Cain;  he  is  jealous,  malignant, 
conceited,  and  tyrannous.  The  Lord  is  patient  and 
long-suffering  with  his  animalized  and  ignorant  chil- 
dren; but  they  who  know  the  right  and  yet  persist  in 
doing  evil,  are  destined  to  swift  and  dreadful  punish- 
ment. The  appalling  afflictions  that  fell  so  thick  and 
fast  upon  the  Israelites  were  occasioned  by  the  fact 
that  they  knew  better  than  they  did.  There  is  an 
unerring  wisdom  that  suffers  no  wrong  to  go  unpunished 
and  no  virtue  unrewarded;  this  all-knowing  presence 
"tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb";  it  apportions 
the  punishment  according  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
delinquent  (Luke  12:47,  48). 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Cain,  Why  art  thou  wroth? 


22        v      The  Law  of  Human  Life 

And  why  is  thy  countenance  fallen?  If  thou  doest 
well,  shalt  thou  not  be  accepted?  and  if  thou  doest 
not  well,  sin  lieth  at  the  door.  Your  carnal  nature  is 
subject  unto  you,  and  you  shall  exercise  dominion  over 
it."  Cain  did  not  know  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of 
sin,  therefore,  "sin  lieth  at  the  door."  Cain  is  carnal, 
sinful;  he  lives  on  the  plane  that  originates  sin;  on  the 
plane  designated  by  the  sign  Scorpio  (Hosea  13: 13). 
He  is  the  victim  of  his  carnal  desires ;  his  animal  nature 
is  superior  to  his  will.  The  Mind  is  the  Man;  the 
Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  lays  an  injunction  on  the 
Mind  of  Cain.  "Your  carnal  nature  is  subject  unto 
you,  and  you  shall  exercise  dominion  over  it"  (Gen. 

4:7). 

Cain  had  a  younger  brother  Abel.  "And  Abel  was 
a  keeper  of  sheep."  According  to  the  symbolism  of 
the  Scriptures,  a  keeper  of  sheep  is  one  who  is  faithful 
to  reason,  who  is  employed  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
virtues.  Abel's  offering  to  the  Lord  was  the  firstlings 
of  his  flock.  "And  the  Lord  had  respect  unto  Abel 
and  his  offering."  Abel's  heart  was  right;  he  did  the 
best  he  could;  therefore,  the  Lord  had  respect  for  Abel 
and  his  offering.  If  we  would  receive  the  blessing  of 
heaven,  we  must  live  worthy  of  it;  we  must  cultivate 
the  human.  The  blessing  of  heaven  is  bestowed  upon 
the  human,  and  not  upon  the  animal  nature  of  man. 
"Hold  fast  to  the  man,  and  awe  the  beast,"  says  Emer- 
son. Cain  is  wroth  because  the  blessing  of  heaven  is 
given  to  Abel.  "And  Cain  talked  to  Abel  his  brother; 
and  it  came  to  pass,  when  they  were  in  the  field,  that 
Cain  rose  up  against  Abel  his  brother  and  slew  him." 

In  the  Scriptures  elevations  are  suggestive  of  char- 
acter. Moses  received  the  Law  in  the  mount;  Jesus 
delivered  his  great  sermon  in  the  mount.  Fields, 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          23 

valleys,  and  plains  are  referred  to  as  the  habitat  of  the 
warlike,  the  sensual,  and  the  degenerate.  Cain  made 
his  subtle  and  murderous  attack  upon  his  brother, 
"when  they  were  in  the  field."  The  densely  populated 
Egypt  from  the  remotest  antiquity  was  the  Valley  of 
the  Nile;  the  luxurious,  the  sensuous,  the  warlike,  the 
proud,  the  vain,  the  conceited,  the  tyrannous  who  lived 
in  the  valley  represent  the  spirit  of  the  animal  world; 
they  are  said  to  have  been  given  to  animal  worship 
in  the  days  of  Moses.  In  the  Scriptures,  the  Egyp- 
tians represent  the  Gentile  state  of  consciousness,  the 
state  represented  by  Cain.  The  Scriptures  are  replete 
with  an  heaven-born  psychology. 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Cain,  Where  is  Abel  thy 
brother?  And  he  said,  I  know  not:  Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper?  And  the  Lord  said,  What  hast  thou  done? 
the  voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  me  from 
the  ground."  The  voice  that  crieth  unto  the  Lord 
from  the  ground  is  the  voice  of  God  in  the  soul  of  Cain. 
Cain's  soul  is  clothed  with  an  earthly  garment;  and  in 
the  earthly  body  of  Cain  the  voice  of  God  crieth  un- 
ceasingly. Cain  is  a  liar,  and  a  murderer;  and  the 
curse  of  God  is  upon  him;  just  as  the  curse  of  God  is 
upon  every  liar,  hypocrite,  and  seducer  of  virtue. 
"And  Cain  said  unto  the  Lord,  My  punishment  is 
greater  than  I  can  bear.  Behold  thou  hast  driven  me 
out  this  day."  I  shall  be  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond, 
and  everybody  shall  seek  to  slay  me.  The  Spirit  of 
God  in  the  soul  of  man,  sometimes  called  conscience, 
and  again  moral  reason,  suffers  no  man  to  find  rest 
and  peace  until  his  soul  is  conformed  to  the  divine 
order.  "The  moral  order  of  the  universe,"  said  Fichte, 
"is  itself  God:  we  need  no  other,  and  can  comprehend 
no  other." 


24  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Trust  me,  no  torture  which  the  poets  fein, 
Can  match  the  fierce,  unutterable  pain 
He  feels,  who,  night  and  day,  devoid  of  rest, 
Carries  his  own  accuser  in  his  breast. 

JUVENAL. 


All  mankind  are  brothers;  all  human  souls  are  made 
after  the  same  divine  pattern.  "Have  we  not  One 
Father?  Has  not  One  God  created  us  all?  "  (Mai.  2 : 10). 
Every  exploiter  of  his  brother  is  a  Cain.  Every  one 
who  loves  money,  power,  and  fame  more  than  he  loves 
his  brother  is  a  Cain.  Every  one  who  hoards  the  things 
of  the  world  beyond  his  reasonable  needs  is  a  Cain. 
Every  one  who  accumulates  by  imposing  unjust  bur- 
dens upon  others  is  a  Cain.  Every  cheat  is  a  Cain. 
Every  liar  and  hypocrite  is  a  Cain.  Every  seducer  of 
virtue  is  a  Cain.  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  The 
curse  of  heaven  is  upon  him  who  deliberately  wrongs 
his  brother;  and  the  day  will  come  when  the  exploiter 
will  say  in  his  heart:  My  punishment  is  greater  than 
I  can  bear.  I  am  a  vagabond,  I  am  a  fugitive,  and 
everybody  seeks  to  slay  me.  "Conscience  doth  make 
cowards  of  us  all."  "Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not 
mocked,  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he 
also  reap." 

"Whosoever  slayeth  Cain,  vengeance  shall  be  taken 
on  him  sevenfold."  Whosoever  slayeth  his  own  Cain, 
whosoever  conquers  his  own  animal  nature  must  neces- 
sarily suffer;  and  he  must  suffer  as  all  have  suffered 
who  have  overcome  the  world.  "He  that  hath  suffered 
in  the  flesh  [and  is  dead  to  the  spirit  of  the  world]  hath 
ceased  from  sin"  (i  Peter  4:  i).  Man,  would  he 
attain  to  the  spiritual  kingdom,  must  die  to  the  animal; 
he  must  sacrifice  the  "firstlings  of  his  flock";  he  must 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          25 

experience  the  whole  agony;  he  must  go  to  the  promised 
land  by  the  way  of  the  wilderness  (Deut.  8:2,  3);  he 
must  drink  of  the  cup  that  Jesus  drank  of  (Matt. 
20: 22,  23) ;  vengeance  shall  be  taken  on  him  sevenfold. 
"And  the  Lord  set  a  mark  upon  Cain,  lest  any  finding 
him  should  slay  him."  This  is  a  declaration,  it  would 
seem,  that  no  soul  is  to  be  blotted  out.  God  sets  a 
mark  upon  every  soul;  it  is  His.  It  is  not  to  be  de- 
stroyed. "Behold,  all  souls  are  Mine"  (Ezek.  18:4); 
"But  Thou  sparest  all;  for  they  are  Thine,  O  Lord, 
Thou  lover  of  souls"  (Wisd.  of  Sol.  1 1 :  26).  "  It  is  not 
the  will  of  God  that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all 
should  come  to  repentance"  (2  Peter  3:9).  Every 
human  soul  was,  or  is  a  Cain ;  therefore,  eve-y  Cain  has 
an  equal  right  to  live.  First,  the  child  of  flesh,  the 
unreasoning  sensualist,  then  the  child  of  reason,  the 
child  of  promise:  first  the  Gentile,  then  the  Israelite. 
Every  Cain  is  "our  kinsman  according  to  the  flesh" 
(Rom.  9:3).  Paul  tells  Titus,  To  speak  evil  of  no 
man;  for  we  ourselves  were  sometimes  disobedient  and 
given  to  lust,  and  pleasure,  and  malice,  and  envy 
(Titus  3: 2,  3). 

Forbear  to  judge,  for  we  are  sinners  all ! 
Close  up  his  eyes,  and  draw  the  curtain  close, 
And  let  us  all  to  meditation. 

Henry  VI. ,3:  3. 

"And  Cain  went  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 
and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod,  on  the  east  of  Eden." 
Eden  is  another  name  for  Wisdom.  Wisdom  is  higher 
than  knowledge.  Our  knowledge  is  what  we  certainly 
know.  Wisdom  is  that  illumination  and  purity  of 
Mind  by  which  we  see  and  know;  it  is  the  Light 
of  Heaven  in  the  soul  of  man ;  it  comes  as  the  reward  of 


26  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

virtue.  ' '  He  that  doeth  the  truth  cometh  to  the  Light. ' ' 
Every  just  and  upright  soul  is  a  Garden  of  Eden,  "a 
garden  of  righteousness"  (Enoch  32:  3,  6).  When  this 
garden  is  harmonious  and  peaceful,  then  does  God  walk 
in  it  in  the  cool  of  the  day  (Gen.  3:8).  "That  which 
may  be  known  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  the  lives  of 
the  just"  (Rom.  i:  19). 

"Nod"  means  discord,  unrest,  mental  anguish. 
Every  evil-doer,  every  one  who  knowingly  violates  the 
duties  and  privileges  of  life  goes  out  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord ;  he  departs  from  wisdom  and  from  rest  and 
peace,  and  dwells  in  discord  in  the  land  of  Nod.  "I 
shall  be  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  in  the  earth,"  said 
Cain.  Every  one  who  ignores  principles,  every  one 
who  lives  in  disregard  of  the  moral  law,  the  Law  of 
Human  Life,  and  thus  seeks  to  escape  the  responsibili- 
ties of  life  is  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  on  the  earth. 
"Evil  is  evil  because  it  is  unnatural."  Order  is  Truth. 
No  rational  being  can  offend  against  the  divine  order 
and  escape  punishment.  Truth  is  the  Law  of  Reason. 
God's  name,  God's  character  is  made  manifest  in  reason 
and  justice.  "He  will  not  pardon  your  transgression 
for  My  Name  is  in  him"  (Ex.  23:  21).  God's  Name  is 
in  the  heart  of  every  just  person;  the  just  know  God 
because  they  partake  of  His  name,  of  His  nature.  "I 
am  the  Lord  that  do  work  love,  justice,  and  righteous- 
ness; for  in  these  things  I  delight,  sayeth  the  Lord 
(Jer.  9:  24). 

The  divine  principle  of  apportioning  punishment 
according  to  the  knowledge  of  the  offender  is  illustrated 
in  a  striking  and  singular  way  in  the  genealogy  of  Cain. 
Lamech,  it  would  seem,  is  the  seventh  generation  from 
Adam.  From  Adam  to  the  children  of  Lamech  are" 
the  seven  ascending  degrees  of  the  natural  man.  If 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          27 

this  be  true,  then  Lamech  is  the  highest  type  of  the 
natural  man.  Lamech  tells  his  wives  that  if  he  should 
slay  a  man,  a  young  man  to  his  own  hurt,  as  did  his 
ancestor  Cain,  that  his  punishment  would  be  seventy 
and  sevenfold  (Gen.  4:24).  He  who  hurts  another, 
hurts  himself;  and  the  hurt  that  he  does  himself  is 
measured  by  his  knowledge.  The  higher  man  rises 
in  the  scale  of  intelligence,  the  severer  the  punishment 
for  every  infraction  of  heaven's  Law.  Symbols  and 
allegories  are  necessarily  used  to  express  knowledge 
of  a  psychological  and  subjective  nature. 

According  to  the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
people  of  Egypt  represent  the  spirit  of  the  world.  The 
habitat  of  Cain  is  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  the  land  of 
luxury,  of  pomp,  and  of  official  station.  Cain  delights 
in  sumptuous  living,  in  carnal  pleasures,  in  gorgeous 
surroundings,  and  in  worldly  power.  This  prince  of 
terror,  and  of  war,  has  ruled  the  world  in  all  the  past, 
as  the  armies  and  the  navies,  and  the  statuary  upon 
the  boulevards  and  esplanades  in  every  capital  the 
world  over  so  abundantly  testify.  The  great  military 
or  naval  chief  who  has  aided  in  putting  to  death  thou- 
sands of  human  beings  is  still  the  popular  hero;  he  is 
still  preferred  by  the  great  mass  of  mankind.  The 
men  of  war  were  consumed  in  the  wilderness,  "because 
they  obeyed  not  the  voice  of  the  Lord"  (Joshua  5:6). 
"We  know  that  the  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness"; 
and  that  we  still  live  "in  an  evil  and  adulterous  genera- 
tion that  seeketh  after  a  sign."  Cain,  Abel,  and  Seth 
represented  three  states  of  consciousness,  the  lower, 
the  intermediary,  and  the  higher,  corresponding  to 
Egypt,  the  desert,  and  the  promised  land. 

Abel  is  the  representative  of  the  intermediary  state 
of  man;  he  represents  a  much  smaller  number  of  the 


28  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

people  of  the  world  than  does  Cain.  He  is  possessed 
of  a  kind  and  tender  heart;  he  is  more  controlled  by 
his  affections  and  intuitions  than  by  reason;  he  finds 
great  pleasure  in  the  performance  of  useful  and  kindly 
offices;  he  hates  cruelty  and  gross  sensuality.  Abel 
knows  enough  to  know  that  he  should  cultivate  virtue, 
and  that  he  should  live  in  obedience  to  reason;  he  is 
"a  keeper  of  sheep" ;  he  is  superior  to  the  Gentile  state, 
the  Egyptian  state,  represented  by  Cain.  "Every 
shepherd  is  an  abomination  to  the  Egyptians"  (Gen. 
46:  34).  Cain  is  the  first  born  in  time;  Abel  is  the  last 
born  in  time,  but  the  first-born  of  God;  he  is  the  first 
born  of  God  because  he  cultivates  virtue,  and  seeks  to 
act  in  obedience  to  reason.  Cain  is  a  Gentile.  Abel 
is  an  Israelite. 

"Ye  shall  dwell  in  booths  seven  days;  all  that  are 
Israelites  born  shall  dwell  in  booths;  that  your  genera- 
tions may  know  that  I  made  the  children  of  Israel  to 
dwell  in  booths"  (Lev.  23:42).  The  Israelites,  when 
in  the  wilderness  dwelt  in  booths;  they  had  no  fixed 
abode.  The  Lord  found  Jacob  in  a  desert  land;  He  led 
him  about;  He  instructed  him ;  He  kept  him  as  the  apple 
of  His  eye  (Deut.  32:  10).  The  desert  life  is  symbolic; 
it  represents  a  period  of  discipline;  man  is  made  per- 
fect by  suffering  (Deut.  8:2,3).  ' '  Israelites  shall  dwell 
in  booths  seven  days."  Seven  days  is  a  figure  of 
speech  which  represents  the  whole  period  of  man's 
discipline  and  chastening;  it  represents  the  period  of 
his  reformation.  According  to  the  symbolism  of  the 
Scriptures,  man  is  disciplined  and  made  perfect  in  the 
wilderness.  He  is  made  perfect  by  suffering.  None 
are  fit  to  enter  the  promised  land  until  they  have  aban- 
doned Egypt,  and  passed  by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea, 
and  been  baptized  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea  (i  Cor. 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          29 

10:2),  and  have  experienced  the  baptism  with  fire 
in  the  wilderness.  "Except  a  man  be  born  of  water 
and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God" 
(John  3 15). 

It  is  written  that  Lamech  had  two  wives:  Adah, 
whose  name  means  ornament,  and  Zillah,  shade  or 
shadow.  A  pure  heart  is  a  sacred  ornament.  "Man, 
an  holy  mind,  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God;  but  the 
woman,  a  pure  heart,  is  the  glory  of  the  man"  (i  Cor. 
11:7).  "And  Adah  bare  Jabal:  he  was  the  father  of 
such  as  dwell  in  tents,  and  of  such  as  have  cattle;  and 
his  brother's  name  was  Jubal ;  he  was  the  father  of  such 
as  handle  the  harp  and  the  organ."  It  would  seem 
that  the  children  of  Adah  are  the  children  of  reason 
and  virtue,  the  children  of  the  head  and  heart.  The 
true  office  of  music  is  to  calm  and  harmonize  the  feel- 
ings and  affections.  "Such  as  have  cattle"  are  shep- 
herds; they  are  the  friends  and  teachers  of  virtue,  as 
are  the  shepherds  of  sheep.  Joseph  tells  his  brethren 
what  to  say  to  Pharaoh.  When  Pharaoh  shall  say, 
"What  is  your  vocation?  Ye  shall  say,  Thy  servants' 
trade  hath  been  about  cattle  from  our  youth  even  until 
now.  .  .  .  For  every  shepherd  is  an  abomination  unto 
the  Egyptians"  (Gen.  46:  33,  34). 

"And  Zillah  bare  Tubalcain,  an  instructor  of  every 
artificer  in  brass  and  iron :  and  the  sister  of  Tubalcain 
was  Naamah."  Tubalcain  was  the  producer  of  weap- 
ons as  his  name  implies;  and  his  sister's  name  spells 
pleasure.  The  children  of  Zillah  represent  the  lower 
principles  of  the  human  soul;  they  are  the  children 
of  the  flesh  (Rom.  9:8).  What  marvelous  lessons  in 
psychology  were  taught  by  the  wise  men  of  old ! 

Cain's  wife  bare  Enoch,  "and  he  buildeda  city,  and 
called  the  name  of  the  city  after  the  name  of  his  son, 


30  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Enoch."  By  this  we  understand,  that  Cain's  son, 
Enoch,  was  faithful  to  virtue,  that  he  builded  an  abiding 
city;  and  that  his  name,  his  character,  was  manifest 
in  the  life  of  his  son  Enoch.  Plato  tells  us  that  wisdom 
gives  names  to  persons  and  things  according  to  their 
respective  natures;  and  that  there  is  an  analogy  be- 
tween a  name  and  its  object.  It  would  seem,  therefore, 
that  the  name  of  the  city  that  Enoch  builded  was  an- 
alogous to  the  name  of  his  son.  The  name  Enoch  sug- 
gests discipline  and  obedience.  He  who  would  build 
an  abiding  city,  and  have  it  made  manifest  in  the  lives 
and  names  of  his  descendants,  must  suffer  a  severe 
discipline;  he  must  learn  obedience  by  the  things  which 
he  suffers  (Heb.  5:8). 

"And  Adam  knew  his  wife  again;  and  she  bare  a  son, 
and  called  his  name  Seth:  For  God  said  she,  hath  ap- 
pointed me  another  seed  instead  of  Abel,  whom  Cain 
slew."  Seth  is  the  representative  of  the  third  and 
rarest  class  of  mankind.  The  children  of  Seth  are  the 
children  of  reason;  they  are  the  elect  of  God;  they  are 
those  that  "call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord"  (Gen.  4: 
26).  The  story  of  Cain,  Abel,  and  Seth  is  the  story 
of  the  evolution  of  the  human  soul.  "God  hath  ap- 
pointed me  another  seed."  First  the  carnal  seed, 
then  the  seed  of  affection,  and  lastly  the  seedi'of  reason. 
First  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn 
in  the  ear  (Mark  4:  28).  The  seed  of  Eve,  the  sons  of 
Eve,  represent  the  sojourn  of  the  soul  of  man  on  earth, 
this  sojourn  is  often  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  as 
three  days.  "Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures 
to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  I  shall  be 
perfected"  (Luke  13:32). 

The  name  Seth  means  substitution.  "God  hath 
appointed  me  another  seed  instead  of  Abel,  whom  Cain 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          31 

slew."  In  the  orderly  evolution  of  the  human  soul, 
reason  supplants  the  heart,  the  affections,  in  its  govern- 
ment ;  the  effeminate  gives  place  to  the  rule  of  the  mas- 
culine. Paul  explains  the  idea  now  under  consideration 
in  his  letter  to  the  Corinthians  (i  Cor.  11:7-11): 
"Man  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God:  but  the  woman 
is  the  glory  of  the  man.  .  .  .  Neither  was  the  man 
created  for  the  woman;  but  the  woman  for  the  man. 
.  .  .  Nevertheless,  neither  is  the  man  without  the 
woman,  neither  the  woman  without  the  man,  in  the 
Lord."  This  singular  language  we  would  interpret 
as  follows :  An  holy  and  chaste  mind  is  the  image  and 
glory  of  God ;  but  a  pure  and  virtuous  heart  is  the  glory 
of  the  man.  Neither  was  the  man  created  to  be  gov- 
erned of  his  emotions  and  affections;  but  they  were 
created  to  be  governed  of  the  Man.  Neither  is  an  holy 
mind  without  a  pure  heart,  neither  is  a  virtuous  heart 
without  a  just  mind,  before  God. 

"And  to  Seth  was  born  a  son;  and  he  called  his  name 
Enos:  then  began  men  to  call  upon  the  name  of  the 
Lord."  The  son  of  Man,  the  mentality  of  man,  must 
be  lifted  up  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wil- 
derness. The  regnant  is  above;  the  subservient  is 
below;  reason  is  the  governing  principle  of  the  human 
soul;  and  the  virtue  of  reason  is  wisdom.  The  human 
soul  can  alone  become  the  organ  of  wisdom  through 
virtue,  through  purity.  The  name  Enos  means  man, 
mentality.  First  the  children  of  the  flesh,  then  the 
children  of  feeling  and  affection ;  and  lastly  the  children 
of  mentality,  the  children  of  reason.  The  children  of 
Seth  are  they  who  "call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
"Ye  shall  call  upon  me,  ye  shall  pray  unto  me,  and  I 
will  hearken  unto  you"  (Jer.  29:  12).  "If  thou  wert 
pure  and  upright;  surely  now  God  would  awake  for 


32  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

thee,  and  make  the  habitation  of  thy  righteousness 
[the  soul]  prosperous.  Though  thy  beginning  was 
small,  yet  thy  latter  end  should  greatly  increase" 
[Job  8:6,  7].  The  children  of  Seth  are  the  children  of 
the  head.  "And  the  Lord  shall  make  thee  the  head, 
and  not  the  tail;  and  thou  shalt  be  above  only,  and 
thou  shalt  not  be  beneath ;  if  thou  hearken  to  the  com- 
mandments of  the  Lord  thy  God"  (Deut.  28:  13). 
"The  ancient  and  honourable  is  the  head"  (Isa.  9: 15). 
"Man  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God;  but  the  woman 
is  the  glory  of  the  man,"  says  Paul.  An  holy  and 
chaste  mind  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God;  but  a  pure, 
virtuous,  and  affectionate  heart  is  the  glory  of  the  Man. 
Man  is  first  governed  of  his  carnal  desires ;  then  he  is 
governed  of  his  heart,  of  his  emotions  and  affections; 
and  lastly  he  is  governed  of  reason  and  of  wisdom.  In 
the  world  are  many  shrewd  and  sapient  men ;  they  live 
by  their  wits;  and  they  generally  hold  the  most  lucra- 
tive and  influential  positions  in  the  Church  and  the 
State.  They  often  attain  to  wealth  and  to  power  by 
their  wiles  and  subtleties ;  they  believe  themselves  wise 
beyond  others;  and  the  great  mass  of  mankind  accede 
to  this  erroneous  opinion.  Their  minds  and  hearts 
are  wedded  to  the  things  of  the  world;  they  love  money, 
power,  luxury,  and  station;  and  they  brook  no  opposi- 
tion to  their  opinions  whether  religious  or  secular. 
They  are  the  children  of  the  bondwoman;  they  are 
Ishmaelites,  Gentiles;  their  hands  are  raised  against 
their  brothers ;  they  are  the  exploiters  of  men ;  they  are 
the  representatives  of  bastard  reason;  they  are  the 
last  to  cast  out  the  bondwoman  and  her  son,  they 
represent  the  spirit  of  the  world.  They  are  the  last 
to  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  kingdom  of 
righteousness  because  of  their  wiles  and  conceits.  The 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          33 

publicans  and  harlots  attain  to  the  Kingdom  of  God 
before  these  exploiters  (Matt.  21 :  31). 

The  wily,  the  conceited,  the  subtle  very  often  assume 
to  be  instructors  in  religion ;  they  assume  to  know  some- 
thing of  spiritual  things.  They  who  love  the  world; 
they  who  live  the  carnal  life  do  not  understand  the 
word  of  God.  The  conceited  and  worldly  wise  have 
sought  to  devise  ways  and  means  whereby  man  may 
pass  to  the  promised  land  by  other  ways  than  by  the 
way  of  the  Red  Sea  and  Sinai.  All  who  teach  that 
there  are  other  ways  to  the  promised  land,  than  by  the 
way  of  the  wilderness,  are  the  teachers  of  heresies. 
Man  must  go  to  the  promised  land  by  the  way  of  the 
desert;  he  must  suffer;  he  must  sacrifice  his  animals; 
he  must  overcome  his  animal  nature,  if  he  would  be 
born  into  that  kingdom  which  transcends  the  animal 
kingdom  of  the  world.  "Salvation  is  of  the  Jews" 
(John  4:22).  Salvation  is  of  them  who  have  passed 
by  the  way  of  the  wilderness;  salvation  is  of  them  who 
live  above  the  spirit  of  the  sensuous  animal  world. 

The  children  of  Seth  are  they  who  have  passed  by  the 
way  of  the  desert;  they  are  those  who  have  "dwelt  in 
booths  for  seven  days"  (Lev.  23:42);  they  are  those 
who  have  cast  out  the  bondwoman  and  her  son;  they 
are  the  children  of  the  divine  Sarah,  the  free  woman. 
They  who  attain  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  kingdom 
that  transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world,  are 
those  who  have  abandoned  the  spirit  of  the  world, 
represented  by  the  bondwoman  and  her  son.  Sarah, 
the  Hebrew  Minerva,  is  imperative;  she  proclaims  the 
Law  of  Human  Life,  the  Law  of  Evolution:  "Cast  out 
the  bondwoman  and  her  son:  for  the  son  of  this  bond- 
woman shall  not  be  heir  with  my  son,  even  with  Isaac" 
(Gen.  21:10).  "Blessed  are  the  poor  in  Spirit;  for 


34  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

they  are  the  heirs  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven"  (Matt. 
5:3).  Blessed  are  they  who  are  depleted  of  the  spirit 
of  the  world,  blessed  are  they  that  have  abandoned 
Egypt,  and  passed  by  the  way  of  the  wilderness  to  the 
promised  land;  for  they  are  the  inheritors  of  the  King- 
dom of  God.  They  that  are  dead  to  the  carnal  world 
are  alive  to  God;  they  are  the  children  of  Seth  that 
"call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

Ill 

THE  BOOK  OF  THE  GENERATIONS  OF  ADAM!  THE  BOOK  OF 
REAL  MEN 

The  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis  is  a  remarkable  book; 
it  is  a  record  of ' '  the  generations  of  Adam. ' '  The  fourth 
chapter  of  Genesis  appears  to  be  an  allegorical  descrip- 
tion of  the  generations  of  the  natural  man;  while  the 
fifth  chapter  is  a  description  of  the  generations  of  the 
spiritual  man,  as  distinguished  from  the  natural.  The 
growth  and  development  of  the  soul  of  man  is  a  slow 
and  orderly  process ;  first  in  time  is  the  development  of 
the  powers  of  the  natural  man,  and  lastly  the  powers 
of  the  Spiritual  man.  The  unfoldment  of  the  soul,  as 
Paul  has  said,  is  "from  character  to  character."  "The 
inward  man  is  renewed  day  by  day"  (2  Cor.  4: 16). 
Charles  Darwin  also  said,  that  evolution  proceeds 
by  "numerous,  successive,  and  slight  modifications." 
The  Scriptures  describe  and  explain  the  nature  of  the 
human  soul,  and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its  orderly 
evolution;  and  since  this  process  is  subjective  and 
psychological,  it  is  necessarily  described  and  explained 
in  symbols  and  allegories. 

It  is  written  that  God  created  Man,  mental  beings, 
in  His  Own  likeness,  male  and  female,  "and  blessed 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          35 

them,  and  called  their  name  Adam"  (Gen.  5:2).  Since 
Adam,  like  Man,  means  mentality,  or  reason,  it  would 
seem  that  human  kind  was  given  a  name  suggestive  of 
dominion.  "Thou  hast  made  Man  to  have  dominion 
over  the  works  of  thy  hands;  thou  hast  put  all  things 
under  his  feet"  (Ps.  8:6).  It  is  reason  that  distin- 
guishes the  human  from  the  animal  creation;  it  is 
reason  that  renders  one  capable  of  acquiring  knowledge, 
and  the  cultivation  of  the  virtues,  and  the  development 
of  the  social  and  the  human.  It  is  reason  that  leads 
the  way  to  human  felicity  here  and  hereafter.  Reason 
is  spiritual;  and  in  its  purity  is,  we  believe,  the  like- 
ness and  image  of  God  Himself.  "It  is  impossible," 
said  Pascal,  "that  the  principle  which  reasons  within 
us  should  be  other  than  spiritual."  Knowledge  comes 
as  the  result  of  thought;  thinking  is  evidently  a  spir- 
itual process.  The  Scriptures  were  written  to  teach, 
and  do  teach  the  deep  truths  of  human  nature.  Knowl- 
edge of  self  is  primary,  and  of  things  secondary.  It 
is  the  will  of  Heaven  that  man  should  live  superior 
to  the  things  of  the  sensuous  world,  that  he  "put  all 
things  under  his  feet." 

I  affirm  [said  William  Ellery  Channing]  that  there  is, 
and  can  be,  no  greater  work  on  earth  than  to  purify  the 
soul  from  evil,  and  kindle  in  it  new  light,  life,  energy,  and 
love.  I  maintain  that  the  true  measure  of  the  glory  of 
religion  is  to  be  found  in  the  spirit  and  power  which  it  com- 
municates to  its  disciples.  This  is  one  of  the  plain  teach- 
ings of  reason.  The  chief  blessing  to  an  intelligent  being, 
that  which  makes  all  other  blessings  poor,  is  the  improve- 
ment of  his  own  mind.  Man  is  glorious  and  happy,  not  by 
what  he  has,  but  by  what  he  is.  He  can  receive  nothing 
better  or  nobler  than  the  unfolding  of  his  own  spiritual 
nature.  The  highest  existence  in  the  universe  is  Mind  :  for 


36  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

God  is  Mind  ;  and  the  development  of  that  principle  which 
assimilates  us  to  God  must  be  our  supreme  good. 

"God  is  One  Mind"  (Job  23: 13).  The  Scriptures 
teach  that  mentality  is  One  and  indivisible.  Birds 
are  a  symbol  of  mentality.  "Abraham  divided  not 
the  birds"  (Gen.  15: 10).  "I  and  my  Father  are  One." 

"And  Adam  lived  an  hundred  and  thirty  years,  and 
begat  a  son  in  his  own  likeness,  after  his  image;  and 
called  his  name  Seth."  It  would  seem  that  Adam  here 
represents  the  spiritual  man,  as  distinguished  from 
the  natural.  "The  first  man  Adam  was  made  a  living 
soul;  the  last  Adam  was  made  a  quickening  spirit" 
(i  Cor.  15:45-48).  The  first  Adam,  the  natural  man, 
is  worldly  and  sensuous;  the  last  Adam  is  a  spiritual 
being.  The  chapter  under  consideration,  the  fifth  of 
Genesis,  evidently  deals  with  the  "last  Adam,"  the 
spiritual  Adam,  "  the  son  of  God"  (Luke  3 :  38).  While 
all  of  the  quickened,  while  all  of  the  resurrected,  are 
the  sons  of  God,  this  chapter  teaches  that  there  are 
degrees  of  the  spiritual  man;  for  it  is  said  of  Enoch, 
who  represents  the  seventh  generation,  or  the  perfected 
man,  that  he  walked  with  God.  "And  Enoch  walked 
with  God ;  and  was  not ;  for  God  took  him  "  (Gen.  5 :  24) . 
The  natural  man  is  the  first-born  in  time;  but  the  spir- 
itual man  is  the  first-born  of  God.  "Israel  is  my  son, 
even  my  first  born"  (Ex.  4:  22).  The  Scriptures  teach 
that  there  are  varying  degrees  of  greatness  among  the 
elect;  for  we  read  of  those  who  are  "anointed  with 
the  oil  of  gladness  [who  are  receptive  of  the  Holy 
Spirit],  above  their  fellows"  (Ps.  45:  7;  Heb.  1:9).  It 
is  the  Holy  Spirit  that  communicates  real  joy  and  glad- 
ness and  peace  to  the  soul  of  man  (Gal.  5:  22;  i  Thess. 
1:6).  "The  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          37 

by  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  given  unto  us  "  (Rom.  5:5). 
"Wisdom  in  all  ages  entering  into  holy  souls  hath 
made  them  friends  of  God  and  prophets"  (Wisd.  of 
801.7:27). 

Adam,  the  spiritual  man,  is  here  represented  as 
begetting  a  son  "in  his  own  likeness,  after  his  image," 
when  an  hundred  and  thirty  years  old.  The  evolution 
of  the  human  soul  is  subjective  and  psychological; 
this  process  is  ordinarily  described  and  explained  in 
ancient  literature  in  symbols,  and  allegories,  and  para- 
bles. The  Scriptures  state  principles;  principles  are 
forever  true  without  reference  to  time  or  place;  the 
principal  office  of  history  is  to  deal  with  events  in  time. 
Principles  being  eternal  in  their  nature,  have  no  anni- 
versary; for  they  exist  above  time.  "The  roses  under 
my  window,"  said  Emerson,  "make  no  reference  to 
former  roses  or  better  ones;  they  exist  with  God  to-day. 
Man  cannot  be  happy  and  strong  until  he,  too,  lives 
with  nature,  in  the  present  above  time."  He  lives 
"above  time"  whose  life  is  conformed  to  religious 
principles;  he  who  lives  for  eternity  is  not  confounded 
or  overwhelmed  by  passing  events,  by  events  in  time. 
The  story  of  the  spiritual  race,  the  generations  descend- 
ing from  Adam  "the  son  of  God"  (Luke  3:38),  re- 
corded in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis,  appears  to  be  an 
allegorical  description  of  the  possibilities  of  regenerate 
man.  Man  as  we  know  him  to-day  is  evidently  in  the 
infancy  of  his  development. 

Emerson  in  his  essay  on  Politics,  said:  "We  think 
our  civilization  near  its  meridian,  but  we  are  yet  only 
at  the  cock-crowing  and  the  morning  star.  In  our 
barbarous  society  the  influence  of  character  is  in  its 
infancy."  In  his  essay  on  Character,  he  speaks  in  like 
terms: 


38  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

History  has  been  mean;  our  nations  have  been  mobs; 
we  have  never  seen  a  man;  that  divine  form  we  do  not  yet 
know,  but  only  the  dream  and  prophecy  of  such :  we  do  not 
know  the  majestic  manners  which  belong  to  him,  which 
appease  and  exalt  the  beholder.  .  .  .  What  greatness  has 
yet  appeared  is  beginnings  and  encouragements  to  us  in 
this  direction. 


And  in  his  essay  on  History,  we  are  told,  that  "Men 
and  women  are  only  half  human."  What  are  the  pos- 
sibilities of  the  truly  human?  Is  it  impossible  that 
there  should  be  a  spiritual  and  holy  race  of  men  on 
earth  who  would  beget  children  "in  their  own  likeness, 
after  their  image?"  Is  it  impossible  that  the  members 
of  such  an  holy  race  should  live  upon  the  earth  a  thou- 
sand years,  and  be  translated,  as  was  Enoch,  into  another 
sphere  of  being?  "The  most  lamentable  scepticism 
on  earth,  and  incomparably  the  most  common,"  said 
William  Ellery  Channing,  "is  a  scepticism  as  to  the 
greatness,  powers,  and  high  destinies  of  human  nature. 
In  this  greatness  I  desire  to  cherish  an  unwavering 
faith."  Who  have  taught  the  high  and  holy  possibili- 
ties of  man,  but  the  virtuous  and  great?  Who  have 
denied  the  divine  possibilities  of  man,  but  the  conceited, 
the  sensuous,  and  the  animalized? 

Every  being  who  is  more  human  than  animal;  every 
being  who  is  capable  of  orderly  thought,  must  believe 
and  know  that  religion  is  founded  in  principle;  and 
that  the  living  of  a  just  and  orderly  life  is  of  the  very 
first  consideration.  "Order  is  Truth,"  said  Thomas 
Carlyle;  and  he  also  said:  "Man's  mission  is  Order: 
every  man's  is."  "  Evil  is  evil  because  it  is  unnatural." 
Righteousness  is  righteousness  because  it  is  natural. 
The  first  and  highest  duty  in  life  is  the  attunement  of 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          39 

the  soul  to  the  divine  order.  To  the  virtuous  this  is 
self-evident.  "Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and 
His  righteousness."  Be  righteous;  walk  with  God  as 
did  Enoch.  This  is  the  imperative  command  of  heaven. 
Let  no  man  believe  that  he  can  violate  the  divine  order 
and  escape  punishment.  "  It  is  by  your  order,  0  Lord, ' ' 
said  St.  Augustine,  "that  all  irregularity  of  mind  should 
carry  its  punishment  along  with  it."  Angels  are  re- 
ferred to  in  the  Scriptures  as  executing  the  divine  order. 
"Beware  of  him,  and  obey  his  voice,  provoke  him  not; 
for  he  will  not  pardon  your  transgressions :  for  my  name 
is  in  him"  (Ex.  23 :  21).  In  the  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis 
is  a  description  of  the  ideal  race  of  man,  "the  generations 
of  Adam,  the  son  of  God."  In  this  chapter  we  are 
told  of  the  high  and  glorious  possibilities  which  attend 
him  whose  life  is  conformed  to  the  divine  order,  who 
"walks  with  God." 

Nothing,  it  would  seem,  more  perfectly  illustrates 
the  state  of  man's  development,  than  his  attitude  to- 
ward religion.  He  in  whom  the  animal  nature  is  in 
the  ascendant  is  the  enemy  of  religion ;  and  he  in  whom 
the  human  is  in  the  ascendant  is  the  friend  of  religion. 
Emerson  in  his  tribute  to  Theodore  Parker,  said:  "The 
opinions  of  men  are  organic."  The  soul  must  be  at- 
tuned to  the  divine  order  if  it  would  be  the  organ  of 
truth  and  justice.  There  are  in  the  world  to-day  a 
vast  number  of  men  and  women  who  make  no  pretense 
at  living  an  orderly  religious  life,  but  on  the  contrary 
treat  religion  with  ridicule  and  contempt.  Many  of 
this  class  boast  of  their  secularism;  and  insist  that  no 
day  should  be  designated  and  maintained  for  the  con- 
templation of  religious  ideas,  and  the  worship  of  God. 
They  contend  that  the  Sabbath  day  is  a  priestly  inven- 
tion arbitrarily  established  by  Moses,  or  some  ancient 


40  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

religious  guild,  and  that  the  keeping  of  this  day  for 
rest  and  peace  and  worship  is  not  conducive  to  the 
welfare  of  man  and  society.  It  is  submitted  that 
nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth  than  this  secular 
contention. 

The  Sabbath  day,  the  seventh  day,  the  Lord's  day, 
represents  the  day  of  Man's  perfection,  the  seventh 
generation  of  the  spiritual  man,  the  day  of  man's  trans- 
figuration. The  Adam  described  in  the  fifth  chapter 
of  Genesis  represents  the  first  generation  of  the  spiritual 
man,  and  Enoch  the  seventh.  It  is  written  that  "God 
created  man  [rational  beings],  male  and  female,"  on 
the  sixth  day,  and  that  God  saw  that  everything  that 
he  had  made  was  good  [was  perfect]  (Gen.  1:27,  31); 
and  that  God  rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all  his 
work,  and  that  He  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sanc- 
tified it"  (Gen.  2:2,  3).  This  language  describes  an 
evolutionary  process;  a  process  essentially  psychologi- 
cal. God  is  here  said  to  create  man  in  ' '  his  own  image  " 
on  the  sixth  day,  then  does  he  pronounce  his  work  good 
and  perfect,  then  does  he  rest  from  all  his  work,  then 
does  the  perfected  man  enter  into  his  glory,  then  does 
he  walk  with  God.  The  keeping  of  the  Sabbath  is  in 
harmony  with  the  divine  order;  that  which  has  for  its 
object  the  perfection  of  the  soul,  the  permanent,  the 
abiding,  and  the  eternal,  represents  the  farthest  re- 
moved from  the  arbitrary  and  the  fanciful.  The  keep- 
ing of  the  Sabbath  evidences  the  triumph  of  the  human 
over  the  animal  nature  of  man;  it  is  a  perpetual  cele- 
bration of  the  power  and  glory  of  God,  and  the  per- 
fection and  glory  of  man.  Enoch,  it  would  seem, 
represents  "the  son  of  man  glorified,  and  God  glorified 
ui  him"  (John  13:31). 

The  genesis  of  Adam,  the  evolution  of  Man,  is  told 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          41 

in  the  first  five  chapters  of  Genesis  in  the  free  and 
impersonal  language  of  allegory.  It  would  seem  that 
every  essential  step  in  the  evolution  of  man  from  his 
nadir  to  his  zenith  is  recounted  in  these  chapters.  Cain 
represents  man  at  his  nadir,  and  Enoch  man  at  his 
zenith.  Evidently,  the  story  of  the  human  soul  is 
told  in  these  chapters,  in  the  way  that  it  is,  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  that  truth  is  eternal,  and  above  the 
limitations  of  time  and  place ;  that  truth  exists  without 
reference  to  this  or  that  individual  person,  or  this  or 
that  time,  or  place. 

The  man  who  is  capable  of  orderly  thought,  the  man 
who  seeks  scientific  knowledge,  does  not  find  pleasure 
and  edification  in  the  Scriptures,  because  history  says 
that  they  were  given  to  mankind  by  this  or  that  person, 
nor  because  they  have  received  the  approval  of  this 
or  that  man  or  body  of  men  or  institution.  Such  a 
man  finds  pleasure  and  comfort  in  the  Scriptures  not 
because  of  any  historic  or  authoritative  dictum,  but 
because  he  beholds  in  them  ideas  and  principles  that 
challenge  his  admiration  and  respect.  "He  that  hath 
my  word,  let  him  speak  my  word  faithfully.  What  is 
the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the  Lord"  (Jer.  23:28). 
The  thoughtful  man  investigates  every  question  that 
seems  vital  to  him,  as  though  it  had  never  been  in- 
vestigated before;  he  discriminates  between  chaff  and 
wheat;  he  wants  something  more  than  the  opinions  of 
other  men ;  he  only  finds  content  when  his  own  investi- 
gations have  brought  to  his  mind  and  heart  settled 
convictions.  "Learn  what  is  true,"  said  Thomas  H. 
Huxley,  "in  order  to  do  what  is  right,  is  the  sum- 
ming up  of  the  whole  duty  of  man,  for  all  are  unable 
to  satisfy  their  mental  hunger  on  the  east  wind  of 
authority." 


42  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Since  a  considerable  number  of  people  in  the  more 
intelligent  nations  of  the  world  are  only  satisfied  with 
scientific  knowledge,  it  is  important  to  know  the  mental 
attitude  necessary  to  the  acquirement  of  such  knowledge. 
Huxley  spoke  upon  this  subject  with  his  accustomed 
acumen. 

Science  seems  to  teach  in  the  highest  and  strongest  man- 
ner the  great  truth  which  is  embodied  in  the  Christian 
conception  of  entire  surrender  to  the  Will  of  God.  Sit 
down  before  the  fact  as  a  little  child,  be  prepared  to  give 
up  every  preconceived  notion,  follow  humbly  wherever 
and  to  whatever  abysses  nature  leads,  or  you  shall  learn 
nothing.  I  have  only  begun  to  learn  content  and  peace  of 
mind  since  I  have  resolved  at  all  risks  to  do  this. 

It  will  certainly  be  admitted  that  an  almost  countless 
number  of  persons  of  excellent  character  and  fine  scien- 
tific attainments  have  believed  intently  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. Why  has  this  great  number  of  independent 
investigators  found  comfort,  and  peace,  and  edification 
in  the  study  of  the  Bible?  What  would  seem  to  be  a 
sufficient  answer  to  this  question  is  found  in  the  words 
of  an  old  pagan  priest  who  was  converted  to  a  belief 
in  the  Scriptures.  When  asked  why  he  believed  in  the 
Bible,  he  answered: 

See,  I  have  hinges  all  over  me;  if  the  thought  grows  in 
my  heart  that  I  want  to  handle  anything,  the  hinges  in 
my  hands  enable  me  to  do  so.  If  I  want  to  utter  anything, 
the  hinges  in  my  jaws  enable  me  to  say  it;  and  if  I  desire 
to  go  anywhere,  here  are  hinges  in  my  legs,  to  enable  me 
to  walk.  Now  I  perceive  great  wisdom  in  the  adaptation 
of  my  body  to  the  various  wants  of  my  mind;  and  when  I 
look  into  the  Bible,  and  see  there  the  proofs  of  wisdom  which 


Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent          43 

correspond  exactly  with  those  which  appear  in  my  frame, 
I  conclude  that  the  Maker  of  my  body  is  the  Author  of 
that  book. 


We  must  remember  that  the  truths  of  every  known 
science  are  not  man  made;  they  are  discovered.  "Or- 
der is  Truth."  The  office  of  science  is  the  discovery 
of  the  divine  order.  All  truth  is  of  God.  The  truth 
is  the  Word  of  God.  Man  is  godlike  to  the  extent  that 
his  soul  is  attuned  to  the  truth.  Jesus,  praying  for  his 
disciples,  said:  "Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth; 
thy  word  is  truth"  (John  17: 17).  Diminution,  atro- 
phy, and  death  are  the  result  of  animal  pleasure,  in- 
dulgence, and  license.  Evil  is  deformity;  it  is  un- 
natural. The  glory,  and  power,  and  freedom,  and 
enlargement  of  the  life  of  man  is  represented  in  the 
soul's  conformity  to  the  divine  order.  When  the  soul 
is  made  perfect,  when  it  is  attuned  to  heaven's  law, 
it  is  the  organ  of  truth.  "To  this  end  was  I  born,  and 
for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear 
witness  unto  the  truth."  It  is  the  duty,  the  first  duty, 
of  every  rational  being  to  live  worthy  of  the  truth;  for 
this  is  the  true  mission  of  man,  and  of  every  man,  male 
and  female;  for  "God  created  man  in  His  own  image 
.  male  and  female." 


CHAPTER  II 

NOAH,  HIS  ARK,  AND  THE  FLOOD 

Noah  was  a  just  man  and  perfect  in  his  generations,  and  Noah  walked 
with  God  (Gen.  6:9). 

IN  the  sixth  chapter  of  Genesis  it  is  written,  that 
"Noah  was  a  just  man,"  and  that  he  had  three  sons: 
Shem,  Japheth,  and  Ham,  and  that  the  earth  was  filled 
with  violence.  "The  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before 
God ;  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  by  the  children 
of  the  flesh;  and  behold,  God  will  destroy  them  with 
the  earth"  (Gen.  6  :  13).  The  body  of  man  is  animal; 
it  is  of  the  earth;  and  it  is  doomed  to  destruction. 
"And  the  Lord  God  formed  the  body  of  man  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground. "  The  physical  body  is  not  the  man ; 
it  is  but  a  garment.  The  children  of  the  flesh  are  they 
who  live  the  animal  life.  Carnality  makes  for  death; 
spirituality  for  life.  Religion  is  founded  upon  the  idea 
that  there  is  a  kingdom  of  life,  intelligence,  truth, 
unity,  and  justice,  a  spiritual  kingdom,  that  transcends 
the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world.  "  My  kingdom  is  not 
of  this  world.  If  my  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then 
would  my  servants  fight"  (John  18:  36). 

Noah  was  a  just  man;  he  was  inspirational;  he  lived 
above  the  spirit  of  the  animal  world;  and  like  all  the 
just,  he  was  capable  of  receiving  a  message  from  the 
spiritual  kingdom.  "By  faith  Noah,  being  warned  of 

44 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          45 

things  not  seen  as  yet,  prepared  an  ark  to  the  saving  of 
his  house,  by  which  he  condemned  the  world,  and  became 
heir  of  the  righteousness  which  is  by  faith  "  (Heb.  11:7). 
Every  human  soul  which  is  just  and  upright  before 
God  condemns  the  spirit  of  the  world;  and  is  the  heir 
of  the  righteousness  which  is  by  faith.  When  the  human 
soul  is  perfect  it  is  consciously  related  to  the  spiritual 
kingdom.  "But  I  tell  you  of  a  truth,  there  are  some 
standing  here,  which  shall  not  taste  of  death,  till  they 
see  the  Kingdom  of  God  [till  they  are  consciously  related 
to  the  Kingdom  of  God]  (Luke  9:  27;  Matt.  16:  28). 
"The  just  shall  live  by  faith.  .  .  .  Because  that  which 
may  be  known  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  their  lives" 
(Rom.  i:  17,  19).  The  just  are  conscious  of  the  King- 
dom of  God;  therefore,  "they  live  by  faith." 

"Noah  by  faith,  prepared  an  ark  [his  soul]  to  the 
saving  of  his  house,  being  warned  of  things  not  seen  as 
yet."  Every  one  who  would  escape  the  fury  of  the 
deluge,  that  envelops  the  whole  earth,  must  prepare  an 
ark,  he  must  make  perfect  his  own  soul ;  this  is  the  only 
ark  that  will  withstand  the  deluge,  that  will  bring  man 
to  an  eternal  haven  of  rest  and  peace.  The  ark  in  an 
outward  and  physical  sense  is  the  human  body;  in  a 
more  inward  and  psychological  sense  it  is  the  human 
soul,  and  in  a  still  more  interior  sense  it  is  the  human 
heart.  Jesus  had  a  marvelous  power  of  stating  the 
ultimate  truths  of  human  nature.  "Blessed  are  the 
pure  in  heart:  for  they  shall  see  God"  (Matt.  5:  8). 
The  heart  is  the  life  center  of  the  individual.  A  man  is  as 
good,  or  as  bad  as  his  heart  is.  "As  a  man  thinketh 
in  his  heart  so  is  he. " 

"A  window  shalt  thou  make  to  the  ark,  and  in  a  cubit 
shalt  finish  it  above;  and  the  door  of  the  ark  shalt  thou 
make  in  the  side  thereof;  with  lower,  second,  and  third 


46  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

stories  shalt  thou  make  it ' '  (Gen.  6 :  1 6) .  The  Kingdom 
of  God  is  the  kingdom  of  Light ;  it  transcends  the  animal 
kingdom.  The  window  of  the  ark  is  at  the  top;  the 
light  comes  from  above.  The  three  stories  of  the  ark — 
the  lower,  the  second,  and  the  third,  like  the  three  sons 
of  Noah :  Ham,  Japheth,  and  Shem,  represent  the  three 
principles  of  the  human  soul.  "And  of  every  living 
thing  of  all  flesh,  two  of  every  sort  shalt  thou  bring  into 
the  ark;  they  shall  be  male  and  female"  (Gen.  6: 19). 
Clean  beasts  were  to  be  taken  by  sevens,  and  beasts 
that  are  not  clean  by  two ;  and  fowls  of  the  air  are  to  be 
taken  by  sevens  (Gen.  7:  2,  3). 

Seven,  like  the  number  three,  indicates  perfection.  It 
would  seem,  that  the  fowls,  a  symbol  of  mentality, 
correspond  to  the  third,  or  upper  story  of  the  ark;  the 
clean  beasts,  which  represent  life  and  purity,  corre- 
spond to  the  second ;  and  the  unclean  beasts  to  the  lower. 
In  a  word,  the  clean  fowls  and  beasts,  that  are  admitted 
by  sevens,  correspond  to  the  head  and  heart,  and  the 
unclean  beasts,  that  are  admitted  by  two,  to  the  lower 
principle  of  the  soul,  the  seat  of  the  carnal  nature  of 
man.  Seth  and  Japheth  represent  the  head  and  heart, 
and  Ham  the  carnal  nature  of  man.  This  allegory,  like 
many  others  in  the  Scriptures  and  in  other  ancient 
literature,  is  intended  to  tell,  and  does  tell  the  story  of 
the  human  soul;  it  first  tells  the  nature  of  the  soul, 
and  then  proceeds  to  tell  the  mode  and  manner  of  its 
evolution. 

The  soul  of  man  is  the  permanent,  the  abiding,  the 
containing  self;  and  it  may  be  made  either  a  garden  of 
virtue,  or  of  vice;  it  contains  the  eternal  attributes  of 
personality,  to  wit :  reason,  self-consciousness,  and  self- 
activity;  it  may  exist  with  or  without  its  body  of  flesh. 
The  lower  principle  of  the  soul  relates  man  to  the 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          47 

animal  world;  the  upper  principle  of  the  soul,  the 
mental,  which  Plato  calls  the  directing  and  measuring 
principle  since  its  office  is  to  govern  the  soul,  like  the 
middle  principle,  relates  the  soul  of  man  to  the  spiritual 
kingdom — the  kingdom  of  life,  intelligence,  truth,  unity, 
and  love,  the  kingdom  that  transcends  the  animal 
kingdom  of  the  world.  The  son  of  man,  the  mind  of 
man  wnen  lifted  up,  when  freed  from  all  earthly  con- 
tamination, "partakes  of  the  Divine  Nature,"  and 
thus  attains  to  a  consciousness  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
(2  Peter  1:4).  "  Man  is  related  to  whatever  he  knows," 
said  Pascal;  and  Tennyson  in  his  Ulysses  sang:  "I  am 
part  of  all  that  I  have  met." 

"The  soul  of  Man"  contemplates  the  expression;  it 
"is  The  Man, "  the  Mind,  that  governs.  "  Let  us  make 
Man  in  our  own  image,  after  our  own  likeness,  male  and 
female :  and  let  them  have  dominion  over  all  flesh,  over 
every  earthly  thing"  (Gen.  1 :  26,  27).  "Thou  madest 
him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  thy  hands; 
thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet "  (Ps.  8:6).  The 
soul  of  man  is  the  permanent,  the  abiding,  and  the 
containing;  it  is  an  ark  that  contains  something  of  all 
that  is  in  heaven  and  earth;  it  is  the  ark  that  contains 
something  of  every  living  thing;  and  above  all  animal 
life  it  contains  man,  the  image  and  glory  of  God,  and 
over  and  above  all  it  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
(2  Cor.  6:  16).  "The  roots  of  all  things  are  in  man," 
says  Emerson  in  his  essay  on  History. 

"By  faith  Noah,  being  warned  of  God  of  things  not 
seen  as  yet,  and  fearful  of  unpreparedness,  prepared  an 
ark  [his  soul],  to  the  saving  of  his  house;  by  which  he 
condemned  the  world,  and  became  the  heir  of  righteous- 
ness which  is  by  faith. "  The  first  duty  of  Noah,  and  of 
every  rational  being,  is  the  perfection  of  the  soul,  the 


48  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

perfection  of  the  ark.  The  carnally  minded  are  the 
helpless  victims  of  every  tempest  that  sweeps  over  the 
face  of  the  animal  world.  Noah,  it  is  said,  put  every- 
thing in  its  right  order  within  the  ark  preparatory  to 
the  coming  of  the  deluge;  nothing  was  left  to  chance; 
nothing  was  left  undone  which  faith  and  wisdom  could 
anticipate.  But  finally  the  hour  struck,  as  it  forever 
will  as  long  as  there  is  a  human  soul  upon  this  earth, 
when  the  tempest  had  to  be  breasted.  All  flesh  is 
doomed;  nothing  is  to  be  saved,  except  what  is  in  the 
ark.  Nothing  can  be  saved  but  that  which  God  has 
put  in  the  ark;  the  ark  is  the  abiding.  What  a  mar- 
velous allegory:  First,  a  description  of  the  soul  of  man, 
and  then  the  method  of  its  evolution. 

"Order  is  Truth.  .  .  .  Order  and  Falsehood  cannot 
subsist  together.  .  .  .  Man's  mission  is  Order;  every 
man's  is,"  said  Thomas  Carlyle.  Disorder  bespeaks 
falsehood,  deformity,  anarchy,  atrophy,  and  death. 
Order  makes  for  cleanliness;  disorder  for  corruption. 
"Now  ye  are  clean  through  the  words  which  I  have 
spoken  unto  you"  (John  15:  3).  Order  is  represented 
in  Life  and  Good;  disorder  in  evil  and  death.  "I  call 
heaven  and  earth  to  record  this  day  against  you,  that  I 
set  before  you  life  and  death,  good  and  evil:  therefore, 
choose  Life,  choose  Good"  (Deut.  30: 15,  19).  Love  the 
Lord  thy  God;  "for  He  is  thy  Life"  (Deut.  30  : 20). 

If  wrongs  be  evils,  and  enforced  us  kill, 
What  folly  'tis  to  hazard  life  for  ill. 

Timon  of  Athens. 

The  first  duty  of  man  is  the  making  perfect  his  ark; 
all  righteous  things  conform  to  heaven's  Law.  "Elias 
must  first  come  .  .  .  and  restore  all  things"  (Matt, 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          49 

17:  10,  1 1).  The  office  of  Elias  is  the  restoration  of  the 
Law;  and  it  is  likewise  the  office  of  every  man.  "Now 
to  thine  own  house  thou  son  of  David"  (i  Kings  12:16). 
"Behold,  I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet  before  the 
coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord" 
(Mai.  4:5).  Honor  and  glory  to  him  who  prepares  his 
Ark  for  the  coming  of  the  deluge. 

"In  the  six  hundredth  year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the 
second  month,  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month,  the 
same  day  were  all  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened. 
And  the  rain  was  upon  the  earth  forty  days  and  forty 
nights  "  (Gen.  7:11,  12).  The  sojourn  of  the  soul  of  man 
on  earth  is  often  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  as  "three 
days,"  and  again  it  is  likened  to  "seven  days."  "Be- 
hold, I  cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures  to-day  and  to- 
morrow, and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  perfected"  (Luke 
13:  32);  and  again  we  read  of  Jesus'  transfiguration  on 
the  seventh  day.  It  is  therefore  apparent  that  the 
expressions  "three  days,"  and  "seven  days"  have  the 
same  meaning  when  used  with  reference  to  the  evolution 
of  the  soul  of  man. 

The  life  of  Moses  fitly  illustrates  the  sojourn  of  man 
on  earth ;  he  was  forty  years  in  Egypt,  this  was  the  first 
day;  he  was  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  the  second 
day;  and  he  was  forty  years  the  spiritual  teacher  of  his 
people,  the  third  day ;  or  the  life  of  Moses  may  be  dealt 
with  according  to  the  allegory  before  us;  and  we  may 
say  that  Moses  was  three  days  in  Egypt,  three  days  in 
the  wilderness,  and  that  he  was  a  great  master  and 
law-giver  during  the  last  three  days  of  his  life  on  earth. 

Moses  was  resurrected  from  the  dead  at  Horeb. 
"Now  that  the  dead  are  raised,  Moses  showed  at  the 
bush,  at  Horeb"  (Luke  20:  37).  Moses,  it  would  seem, 


50  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

was  resurrected  out  of  a  state  of  carnality  and  death 
into  a  state  of'  spirituality  and  life  at  the  darkest  hour 
in  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  or  of  the  seventh.  No 
man  is  a  master  in  Israel,  until  he  is  resurrected  from 
the  dead;  no  man  is  a  master  in  Israel  until  he  has 
abandoned  Egypt,  "the  land  of  Ham"  (Ps.  105:  23), 
the  land  of  carnality ;  and  has  suffered  the  terrors  of  the 
deluge;  and  is  resurrected.  "  God  is  not  the  God  of  the 
dead,  but  of  the  living:  for  all  the  just  live  unto  God" 
(Luke  20:  38). 

According  to  this  allegory,  the  days  of  Noah  were 
nine  hundred  and  fifty  years  (Gen.  9:  29).  At  what 
time  in  Noah's  life  were  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  opened?  When 
was  it  that  Noah's  soul  was  resurrected  from  a  state  of 
carnality  and  death  into  a  state  of  spirituality  and  life? 
When  was  it  that  Noah's  soul  attained  to  a  conscious 
relation  to  the  Kingdom  of  God?  It  was  "In  the  six 
hundredth  year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the  second  month,  and 
the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month";  it  was  in  the  first 
year  of  the  seventh  century  of  his  life;  it  was  the  darkest 
hour  of  the  morning  of  the  "seventh  day  " ;  it  was  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  third  epoch  of  Noah's  life  on  earth. 
The  reader  must  remember  that  this  is  the  story  of  the 
human  soul,  and  of  every  righteous  human  soul.  "  Noah 
was  a  just  man."  "By  faith  Noah  prepared  an  ark, 
he  prepared  his  soul,  to  the  saving  of  himself  and  those 
of  his  house." 

They  who  are  resurrected  from  the  dead  on  the 
morning  of  the  "third  day,"  or  the  seventh,  undergo 
great  suffering;  the  tempest  bears  down  upon  them 
through  many  days  and  many  nights.  Noah  has  now 
entered  upon  the  third  epoch  of  his  life;  this  is  the 
beginning  of  "the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord" 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          51 

(Mai.  4:5);  Noah  is  now  to  be  tempted  and  tried;  he  is 
now  to  be  led  by  "a  way  which  the  vulture's  eye  hath 
not  seen"  (Job  28:  7).  Baptism,  or  the  deluge,  marks 
the  beginning  of  the  third  epoch  in  the  evolution  of  the 
human  soul.  Jesus,  when  baptized  of  John,  went 
"immediately  into  the  wilderness"  (Mark  i:  12). 
This  abandonment  of  Egypt;  this  overcoming  of  the 
world;  this  breasting  of  the  deluge  is  attended  with 
great  suffering;  it  is  impossible  for  one  to  be  born  into 
the  Kingdom  of  God  without  dying  to  the  animal 
kingdom  of  the  world.  "  It  is  appointed  unto  men  once 
to  die  [to  the  world],  but  after  this  the  judgment"; 
the  crisis,  the  temptation  (Heb.  9:  27). 

The  soul  is  the  abiding,  the  indestructible;  life  and 
death  are  states  of  the  soul,  and  not  of  the  body;  phy- 
sical death  does  not  reform  the  soul  of  man;  it  is  the 
abandonment  of  carnality;  it  is  the  overcoming  of  the 
world,  that  reforms.  "For  he  that  hath  suffered  in 
the  flesh  [and  is  dead  to  the  world]  hath  ceased  from  sin  " 
(i  Peter  4:  i).  If  man  would  attain  to  the  resurrection; 
if  he  would  attain  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  he  must  live 
above  the  spirit  of  the  world;  he  must  prepare  his  ark; 
and  his  ark  must  be  such  as  to  raise  him  above  the 
waters  of  the  earth.  Water  is  a  symbol  of  carnal, 
animalized  mind.  "The  ark  went  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters"  (Gen.  7:  18).  They  who  live  above  the  spirit 
of  the  world  are  hated  of  the  carnally  minded.  Man, 
would  he  attain  to  greatness,  "must  suffer  many  things, 
and  be  rejected  of  his  generation,  as  in  the  days  of 
Noah"  (Luke  17:  25). 

The  deluge  is  said  to  have  lasted  "forty  days  and 
forty  nights."  This  is  a  figure  of  speech;  a  like  figure 
occurs  several  times  in  the  Scriptures;  it  evidently  does 
not  mean  a  fixed  time,  but  a  period  of  disciplining  and 


52  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

chastening  through  which  the  soul  of  man  must  pass 
on  its  way  to  perfection.  "Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He 
chasteneth,  and  scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  re- 
ceiveth"  (Heb.  12:  6).  The  sons  of  God  are  taught  the 
way  of  the  wilderness  (Deut.  8:  2,  3). 

"And  God  remembered  Noah,  and  every  living 
thing  that  was  with  him  in  the  ark  .  .  .  and  the  ark 
rested  in  the  seventh  month,  on  the  seventeenth  day  of 
the  month,  upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat"  (Gen.  8:  I, 
4).  God  remembers  the  abiding;  He  remembers  that 
which  is  not  to  be  destroyed ;  He  remembers  that  which 
is  to  be  made  perfect.  The  ark  is  wafted  to  and  fro, 
through  five  months,  from  the  seventeenth  day  of  the 
second  month,  to  the  same  day  of  the  seventh,  and  then 
it  rested  upon  the  mountains.  When  the  brethren  of 
Joseph  were  reconciled  to  him,  he  presented  to  each  of 
them  change  of  raiment,  "but  to  Benjamin  he  gave 
three  hundred  pieces  of  silver,  and  five  changes  of  rai- 
ment" (Gen.  45:  22).  Benjamin  was  the  medium  of 
reconciliation  between  Joseph  and  his  brethren.  The 
deluge,  the  suffering,  the  chastening,  which  is  necessary 
to  reconcile  man  to  his  Creator,  is  here  represented  as 
lasting  five  months;  it  would  seem,  therefore,  that  five 
represents  reconciliation.  Man  is  made  perfect  by 
suffering ;  he  is  taught  obedience  by  the  things  which  he 
suffers"  (Heb.  5:8).  "Let  us  labor  therefore  to  enter 
into  rest"  (Heb.  4:9-11). 

And  at  the  end  of  forty  days,  Noah  opened  the 
window  of  the  ark;  and  sent  forth  a  raven,  which  went 
forth  to  and  fro,  until  the  waters  were  dried  up  from 
off  the  earth"  (Gen.  8:  6,  7).  The  raven  is  the  symbol 
of  human  reason ;  its  true  abiding  place  is  at  the  top  of 
the  ark  at  the  window;  Noah  and  his  raven  are  one; 
the  mind  is  the  man;  the  raven  was  faithful;  "for  Noah 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          53 

was  a  just  man  and  perfect  in  his  generations"  (Gen. 
6:9).  He  is  perfect  in  his  generations  who  does  the  best 
he  can  with  the  knowledge  he  has.  Reason  is  spiritual, 
and  we  believe  it  to  be  the  first-born  of  God,  the  only 
begotten  of  God.  All  evil  is  an  offending  against 
reason;  it  is  an  offending  against  God.  "How  can  I  do 
this  great  wickedness,  and  sin  against  God"  (Gen.  39: 
9).  Whosoever  is  faithful  to  the  mentality  that  God 
hath  given  him  is  perfect  in  his  generations,  and  shall 
have  more;  but  whosoever  is  unfaithful  shall  have  less 
(Matt.  13:  12).  The  soul  of  man  is  endowed  with 
reason  to  the  end  that  he  may  walk  with  God,  and  be 
perfect  in  his  generations. 

"Noah  also  sent  forth  a  dove  from  him,  to  see  if  the 
waters  were  abated  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground" 
(Gen.  8:8).  Noah  found  this  holy  messenger  when  the 
ark  was  at  rest  upon  the  mountains.  The  dove  was 
thrice  sent  forth;  she  went  forth  every  seven  days. 
The  numbers  three  and  seven  as  here  used  evidently 
have  nothing  to  do  with  time;  they  are  descriptive  of 
the  sublimity  and  perfection  of  the  divine  messenger. 
The  dove  is  a  symbol  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "The  Spirit 
of  God,"  says  the  Talmud,  "like  a  dove  brooded  over 
the  waters"  (Gen.  1:2).  "The  voice  of  the  dove  is  the 
voice  of  the  Spirit"  (Cant.  2:  12).  The  dove  when  first 
sent  out  found  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot,  and  she 
returned  unto  him  into  the  ark;  for  the  waters  were  on 
the  face  of  the  whole  earth  (Gen.  8:9).  The  waters  are 
the  symbol  of  carnality.  There  is  no  rest  for  the  dove 
so  long  as  animalized  mind  is  on  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth.  There  is  but  one  place  on  earth  where  the  dove 
can  find  rest;  it  is  in  the  heart  of  a  virtuous  human 
soul.  "She  returned  unto  him  into  the  ark  ...  he 
put  forth  his  hand,  and  took  her,  and  pulled  her  in  unto 


54  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

him  into  the  ark."  The  dove  was  dear  to  Noah.  "  It  is 
the  Spirit  that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing" 
(John  6:  63).  "The  soul  is  what  we  make  it;  the  Spirit 
we  can  neither  make  nor  mar,  for  It  is  at  once  our  being 
and  God's.  What  we  are  here  to  do  is  to  grow  the  soul, 
that  is  to  manifest  the  nature  of  the  Spirit,"  said  R.  J. 
Campbell,  Minister  of  the  City  Temple,  London,  in  his 
book,  The  New  Theology.  He  who  is  wicked  neglects 
his  soul ;  he  is  at  war  with  the  Spirit ;  he  repels  the  dove ; 
but  he  who  is  just  is  faithful  to  his  own  soul;  he  is 
perfect  in  his  generations;  and  his  hand  is  forever 
extended  to  the  dove.  "My  Spirit  shall  not  always 
strive  with  man  "  (Gen.  6:3).  As  long  as  man  is  wicked 
and  fallen  the  Spirit  of  God  strives  with  him,  but  when 
his  soul  becomes  just  and  upright  before  God,  then  is  he 
led  and  taught  of  the  Spirit;  and  finds  inexpressible 
joy  in  the  fruit  of  It  (Gal.  5 :  22). 

"And  the  dove  came  to  Noah  in  the  evening;  and, 
lo,  in  her  mouth  was  an  olive  branch  plucked  off:  so 
Noah  knew  that  the  waters  were  abated  from  off  the 
earth."  To  be  consciously  related  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,  to  be  led  and  taught  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
aim  and  end  of  religion.  Religion  is  founded  upon  the 
idea  that  there  is  a  spiritual  kingdom  which  transcends 
the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world;  and  that  a  perfect 
human  soul  is  consciously  related  to  this  high  and  holy 
kingdom.  They  that  entertain  the  dove  are  the  children 
of  God.  "The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our 
spirit,  that  we  are  the  children  of  God;  and  if  children, " 
then  heirs  of  his  power  and  righteousness  (Rom.  8:  16). 
Noah's  ark  rested  upon  the  mountains;  he  entertains 
the  dove;  he  condemns  the  world;  he  is  an  heir  of 
righteousness  (Heb.  11:  7).  "And  the  dove  came  to 
Noah  in  the  evening."  God  walks  in  his  vineyard,  in 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          55 

his  paradise,  "in  the  cool  of  the  evening"  (Gen.  3:8). 
The  human  soul  when  pure  and  upright  is  the  paradise 
of  God,  the  garden  of  God.  "If  thou  wert  pure  and 
upright;  surely  now  God  would  awake  for  thee,  and 
would  make  thy  soul  prosperous  and  an  habitation  of 
righteousness"  (Job  8:  6).  God  awakes  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  all  the  just. 

"And  Noah  built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord;  and  took  of 
every  clean  beast  [the  symbol  of  a  pure  heart],  and  of 
every  clean  fowl  [the  symbol  of  a  just  mind],  and 
offered  burnt  offerings  on  the  altar"  (Gen.  8:  21).  The 
offerings  are  burned;  Noah's  mind  and  heart  and  soul  are 
unequivocally  dedicated  to  virtue,  to  the  service  of  the 
Most  High  God.  "Give  unto  the  Lord  the  glory  due 
unto  his  name:  bring  an  offering;  worship  the  Lord  in 
the  beauty  of  holiness"  (Ps.  96:  8,  9).  This  allegory 
teaches  that  the  soul  of  man  must  be  purified  and 
consecrated  to  God,  if  he  would  be  related  to  the  spirit- 
ual kingdom,  if  he  would  attain  to  rest  and  peace.  If 
man  would  be  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  he  must 
live  worthy  of  it.  What  is  it  that  makes  man  conscious 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  in  his 
soul?  Prayer  is  the  act  by  which  man  seeks  to  raise  his 
mind  and  soul  above  the  animal  sensuous  kingdom  of 
the  world,  and  to  relate  it  to  the  spiritual  kingdom. 
Prayer  is  the  voice  of  the  Creative  Spirit  in  the  soul  of 
man  (Rom.  8:  15,  26;  5:  5;  Gal.  4:  6).  "It  is  the  Spirit 
that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing"  (John 
6:  63).  "The  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  which  is  given  unto  us"  (Rom.  5:5). 

Noah  and  his  descendants  are  given  dominion  over 
every  living  thing  on  the  earth  and  in  the  sea  (Gen.  9:2). 
The  Mind  is  the  image  of  God ;  it  is  the  regnant ;  it  is  not 
to  be  cast  down  and  made  subservient  to  the  things  of 


56  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  sensuous  and  animal  world.  The  son  of  man,  the 
mind,  exercises  righteous  dominion  over  the  things  of 
the  world,  when  it  is  faithful  to  the  human  soul  in 
which  it  governs ;  the  office  of  the  mind  is  the  perfection 
of  the  human  soul.  "And  the  Lord  God  took  the  Man, 
and  put  him  into  the  garden  of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  to 
keep  it"  (Gen.  2:  15).  "Evil  is  evil  because  it  is  un- 
natural. "  He  who  is  untrue  to  his  own  soul  is  unfaith- 
ful to  others;  and  he  who  is  true  to  his  soul  is  faithful 
to  all.  The  blessing  that  Polonius  gives  his  son  Laertes, 
when  he  lays  his  hand  upon  his  head  is  true  to  human 
nature. 

This  above  all, — to  thine  own  self  be  true; 
And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man. 
Farewell:  my  blessing  season  this  in  thee! 

"Every  moving  thing  that  liveth  shall  be  meat  for 
you;  even  as  I  have  given  you  every  herb"  (Gen.  9:  3). 
Every  living  thing  that  moves  on  the  earth,  and  every- 
thing that  is  fast  in  the  earth  is  for  the  use  of  man. 
Emerson  when  discoursing  on  the  possibilities  of  Man  in 
his  essay  on  Self -Reliance,  says:  "Let  a  man  then  know 
his  worth,  and  keep  things  under  his  feet."  This  com- 
prehensive allegory  teaches  that  all  things  are  for  the 
use  of  man,  but  that  when  he  ceases  to  live  superior  to 
them,  then  is  he  fallen.  Men  are  debauched  in  mind 
and  heart  because  of  their  love  of  carnal  things;  and 
thus  it  is  that  men  are  sold  into  the  service  of  Satan, 
the  old  animal  god,  the  prince  of  the  world.  Elijah 
said  to  the  wicked  Mammon  worshipping  Ahab:  "Thou 
hast  sold  thyself  to  work  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord" 
( i  Kings  21:20).  Who  has  not  heard  the  low  and  vulgar 
remark:  that  every  man  has  his  price?  The  Scriptures 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          57 

teach  unqualifiedly  that  it  is  possible  for  man  to  live 
superior  to  the  temptations  of  the  world;  and  that  this 
is  the  sole  condition  of  human  greatness.  "Be  of  good 
cheer,  I  have  overcome  the  world."  He  that  lives 
superior  to  the  spirit  of  the  animal  world  is  destined  to 
undergo  a  great  travail  of  soul,  and  to  bear  the  sins  of 
many  (Isa.  53:  n;  Num.  n:  n;  Ezek.  4:  4).  They 
bear  our  iniquities  who  rise  superior  to  every  tempta- 
tion. 

God  makes  a  covenant  with  Noah;  it  is  "for  per- 
petual generations";  the  token  of  this  never-ceasing 
covenant  is  "the  bow  in  the  cloud"  (Gen.  9:  11-16). 
According  to  the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  things 
deformed,  maimed,  unclean,  or  ill-colored  are  emblems 
of  vice  and  depravity,  and  are  displeasing  to  God ;  but 
things  clean,  odorous,  bright,  and  perfect  are  emblems 
of  virtue;  and  are  pleasing  to  God.  No  lame,  diseased, 
deformed,  or  maimed  person  was  permitted  to  perform 
priestly  offices  (Lev.  21:  16-24).  Unclean  birds  are  a 
symbol  of  an  impure  and  carnal  mind,  and  unclean 
beasts  of  a  corrupt  heart.  Noah's  sacrifice  consisted  of 
every  clean  fowl,  the  symbol  of  a  pure  mind,  and  of 
every  clean  beast,  the  symbol  of  a  virtuous  heart,  and 
when  they  were  burned  upon  the  altar,  "the  Lord 
smelled  a  sweet  savor"  (Gen.  8:  20,  21).  These  symbols 
are  intended  to  teach,  and  do  teach,  that  the  divinity 
is  forever  on  the  side  of  purity,  perfection,  and  holiness. 
"I  am  the  Lord  that  do  work  Love,  Justice,  and  Right- 
eousness; for  in  these  things  I  delight,  saith  the  Lord" 
(Jer.  9:  24). 

It  therefore  follows  that  the  covenant  that  God  made 
with  Noah,  with  Man,  "and  with  every  living  creature, 
for  perpetual  generations, "  is  the  covenant  of  perfection. 
Man  attains  to  perfection,  he  fulfills  this  covenant,  by 


58  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  cultivation  of  the  virtues,  by  living  the  very  best 
life  that  he  can.  "Noah  was  a  just  man  and  perfect  in 
his  generations,  and  .Noah  walked  with  God."  He  is 
perfect  in  his  generations  and  walks  with  God  who  does 
the  very  best  he  can  with  the  light  that  he  has.  "He 
that  doeth  the  truth  cometh  to  the  Light";  he  attains 
to  Wisdom. 

The  rainbow  is  a  token  of  purity,  and  of  holiness,  and 
of  perfection. 

Of  all  the  gifts  to  the  sight  of  man  [said  John  Ruskin] 
color  is  the  holiest,  the  most  divine,  the  most  solemn.  .  .  . 
The  purest  and  most  thoughtful  minds  are  those  that  love 
color  the  most.  The  bow,  or  color  of  the  cloud,  signifies 
always  mercy,  the  sparing  of  life;  such  ministry  of  the 
heaven,  as  shall  feed  and  prolong  life.  And,  as  the  sunlight, 
undivided,  is  the  type  of  the  Wisdom  and  Righteousness  of 
God,  so  divided,  it  is  the  type  of  the  Wisdom  of  God, 
becoming  sanctification  and  redemption.  Various  in  work — 
various  in  beauty — various  in  power. 

In  a  little  volume  of  poems  by  Miss  Maynard,  is  one 
entitled:  A  Dream  of  Fair  Colors,  she  tells  how  the 
Seven  Daughters  of  Light  praise  God  forever  more: 

For  still  in  every  land,  though  to  Thy  name 

Arose  no  temple, — still  in  every  age, 

Though  heedless  man  had  quite  forgot  Thy  praise, 

We  praise  Thee;  and  at  rise  and  set  of  sun 

Did  we  assemble  duly,  and  intone 

A  choral  hymn  that  all  the  lands  might  hear. 

In  heaven,  on  earth,  and  in  the  deep  we  praised  Thee, 

Singly,  or  mingled  in  sweet  sisterhood, 

But  now,  acknowledged  ministrants,  we  come, 

Co-worshippers  with  man  in  this,  Thy  house, 

We,  the  Seven  Daughters  of  the  Light,  to  praise 

Thee,  Light  of  Light!  Thee,  God  of  very  God! 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          59 

"And  Noah  began  to  be  a  husbandman,  and  he 
planted  a  vineyard ;  and  he  drank  of  the  wine,  and  was 
drunken;  and  was  uncovered  within  his  tent"  (Gen. 
9:  20,  21).  The  mind  is  the  man;  the  vineyard  of  which 
Noah  is  the  master,  the  husbandman,  is  his  own  soul; 
he  was  put  into  his  vineyard  "to  dress  it  and  to  keep 
it"  (Gen.  2:  15);  he  is  a  cultivator  of  virtue;  and  the 
wine  that  he  drank  is  wisdom;  man  attains  to  wisdom 
by  the  cultivation  of  virtue.  None  but  the  great  are 
intoxicated  with  wisdom.  "O  how  great  is  he  that 
findeth  wisdom ' '  (Jesus  Son  of  Sir.  25:10).  "  And  Noah 
was  uncovered  in  his  tent. "  Wisdom  uncovers  the  deep 
truths  of  nature;  nothing  is  hidden  from  it.  Wisdom 
is  more  than  knowledge ;  it  is  illumination ;  it  is  the  light 
of  heaven  in  the  soul  of  man;  it  is  the  light  within  his 
tent  by  which  he  sees  and  knows.  Wisdom  is  the  in- 
heritance of  every  one  who  is  faithful  to  his  vineyard. 
"Shall  I  hide  from  Abraham  what  I  do;  knowing  that 
he  will  do  justice  and  righteousness?"  (Gen.  18:  17- 
19).  God  did  not  hide  the  truth  from  Abraham;  it 
"was  uncovered  within  his  tent." 

And  Noah  drank  of  the  wine,  and  was  drunken;  and  he 
was  uncovered  within  his  tent.  And  Ham,  the  father  of 
Canaan,  saw  the  nakedness  of  his  father,  and  told  his  two 
brethren  without.  And  Shem  and  Japheth  took  a  garment, 
and  laid  it  upon  both  their  shoulders  and  went  backward, 
and  covered  the  nakedness  of  their  father;  and  their  faces 
were  backward,  and  they  saw  not  their  father's  nakedness. 
And  Noah  awoke  from  his  wine,  and  knew  what  his  younger 
son  had  done  unto  him.  And  he  said,  Cursed  be  Canaan;  a 
servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren.  And  he 
said,  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Shem;  and  Canaan  shall 
be  his  servant.  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall 
dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant. 


60  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Shem  is  the  representative  of  reason,  the  ruling 
principle  within  the  soul  of  man;  Japheth  represents 
the  heart,  the  seat  of  life  and  of  the  affections  and 
emotions;  and  Ham,  the  lower  carnal  principle  of  the 
soul.  "And  Ham,  the  father  of  Canaan,  saw  the 
nakedness  of  his  father,  and  told  his  two  brethren 
without";  he  told  his  two  brethren  who  were  above 
him;  he  told  his  two  brethren  who  represent  planes  of 
consciousness  transcending  the  carnal ;  and  they  refused 
to  see  the  carnal;  they  "took  a  garment,  and  laid  it 
upon  both  their  shoulders  and  went  backward,  and 
covered  the  nakedness  of  their  father;  and  their  faces 
were  backward,  and  they  saw  not  their  father's  naked- 
ness. "  This  is  a  way  of  saying  that  the  mind  and  heart 
of  man  should  rise  above  the  sordid  things  of  the  animal 
world;  in  short,  that  the  mind  and  heart  should  not 
look  upon  nor  contemplate  the  sensuous  and  carnal. 
Broadly  speaking,  the  mind  and  heart  are  the  principles 
within  the  soul  of  man  by  which  he  sees  and  hears  and 
knows  and  feels ;  they  are  the  principles  which  determine 
his  conduct. 

"And  Noah  awoke  from  his  wine,  and  knew  what  his 
younger  son  had  done  unto  him.  And  he  said,  Cursed 
be  Canaan;  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  to  his 
brethren. "  Ham  is  the  oldest  in  time,  but  the  youngest 
in  power.  He  is  called  the  younger  because  he  is  a  child 
in  knowledge.  The  curse  of  heaven  is  laid  upon  Canaan, 
the  progeny  of  Ham;  it  is  laid  upon  him  who  abides  on 
the  carnal,  the  worldly,  the  animal  plane  of  conscious- 
ness; it  is  laid  upon  him  who  abides  in  Egypt,  "the 
land  of  Ham"  (Ps.  105:  23).  The  blessing  of  heaven  is 
bestowed  upon  Shem.  "Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of 
Shem";  blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  reason,  and  of 
wisdom;  "and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant."  God 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          61 

shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of 
Shem;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant."  God  shall 
enlarge  the  heart.  The  affections  are  the  allies  of 
reason;  they  are  the  daughters  of  Japheth;  they  shall 
dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem,  in  the  tents  of  reason;  and 
Canaan  shall  be  their  servant. 

"And  the  sons  of  Noah,  that  went  forth  of  the  ark, 
were  Shem,  and  Ham,  and  Japheth;  and  Ham  is  the 
father  of  Canaan.  These  are  the  three  sons  of  Noah; 
and  of  them  was  the  whole  earth  overspread"  (Gen. 
9: 18,  19).  "And  Ham  is  the  father  of  Canaan. "  What 
is  the  meaning  of  this  singular  expression?  Every 
human  birth  in  the  world  is  on  the  lower,  or  animal 
plane  of  consciousness;  the  soul  of  man  on  earth  dwells 
in  an  animal  body.  Flesh  and  blood  are  essentially 
animal;  they  "cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God" 
(i  Cor.  15:  50).  The  soul  is  the  abiding.  What  a 
marvelous  and  unexplored  field  of  psychology  is 
presented  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  Psychology,  said 
the  late  Prof.  William  James,  "is  the  description  and 
explanation  of  the  states  of  consciousness  as  such." 
Psychology  is  the  first  science  because  it  has  to  do  with 
the  abiding,  with  the  eternal;  and  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures are,  therefore,  the  most  profound,  instructive, 
valuable,  and  edifying  knowledge  ever  given  to  man- 
kind. 

Shem,  Japheth,  and  Ham  "are  the  three  sons  of 
Noah;  and  of  them  was  the  whole  earth  overspread." 
Mankind  upon  the  earth  at  any  and  all  times  may 
properly  be  divided  into  three  classes,  that  represent 
three  definable  states  of  consciousness;  the  higher,  the 
intermediary,  and  the  lower;  and  these  states  are 
represented  by  Shem,  Japheth,  and  Ham. 

The  children  of  Ham  live  upon  the  lowest  plane  of 


62  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

human  consciousness ;  they  are  the  carnally  minded,  the 
animalized,  the  sensuous,  the  pleasure-loving.  They 
are  full  of  idle  and  vulgar  curiosity;  they  are  the 
children  of  the  flesh  (Rom.  9:8).  They  are  the  children 
of  envy,  falsehood,  hypocrisy,  superstition,  greed, 
avarice,  lust,  revenge,  war,  and  murder.  Every  adul- 
terer, every  liar,  every  hypocrite,  every  extortioner, 
every  cheat,  every  usurer,  every  lover  of  war  and 
militarism,  every  exploiter  of  man,  woman,  or  child,  is 
a  Hamite.  In  the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  they 
are  likened  to  goats ;  and  all  evil  is  said  to  originate  on 
this  animal  plane  of  consciousness.  The  goat,  like  the 
serpent,  is  a  symbol  of  the  lower  animal  principle  of  the 
human  soul;  and  thus  it  is  that  all  the  iniquities  of 
mankind  are  laid  upon  the  head  of  the  goat.  In  a  word, 
all  evil  is  chargeable  to  the  animal  nature  of  man.  No 
one  can  make  the  ascent  of  the  spiritual  mount  until  he 
rises  superior  to  his  animal  nature.  When  Moses  made 
the  ascent  of  Sinai,  bounds  were  set  to  the  people,  and 
neither  beast  nor  man  was  suffered  to  "touch  the 
border  of  the  mountain"  (Ex.  19:  12,  13).  It  will  be 
recalled  that  Hercules,  the  spiritual  hero  of  the  Greeks, 
destroyed  his  animals  before  he  was  banqueted  by  the 
gods  upon  Mount  Ida. 

These  children  of  the  flesh  are  fond  of  war  and  car- 
nage; they  stand  for  worldly  pomp  and  glory;  they  love 
exploitation,  and  are  fond  of  militarism;  they  have 
decimated  tribes  and  peoples;  and  have  enslaved 
countless  numbers.  How  low  is  our  boasted  civiliza- 
tion? Human  slavery,  a  relic  of  barbarism,  was  abol- 
ished less  than  a  hundred  years  ago  in  one  of  the  leading 
nations  of  the  world;  and  its  abolition  was  attended  by 
scenes  of  carnage  and  cruelty  past  description.  These 
conceited  children  are  fond  of  luxury,  wealth,  and 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          63 

station;  they  have  been  the  exploiters  of  the  toiling 
masses  in  every  country  in  the  world ;  they  have  denied 
them  their  rights  and  robbed  them  of  their  earnings. 
They  practically  control  the  world  to-day  as  they  have 
controlled  it  in  all  the  past;  they  have  not  only  con- 
trolled its  secular  affairs;  but  in  the  main,  they  have 
controlled  its  religious  institutions.  It  should  be  re- 
membered that  men  do  what  they  do  because  they 
are  what  they  are.  Small  bodies  of  people  at  various 
times  have  attempted  to  organize  for  the  purpose  of 
living  above  the  spirit  of  the  world;  but  every  attempt 
at  this  has  been  frustrated  by  the  Hamites.  Countless 
millions  of  Hamites  have  pretended  to  believe  in  a 
religion  founded  upon  the  Hebrew  Scriptures;  but  the 
lives  they  have  lived,  and  the  ideas  for  which  they 
stood,  are  proof  positive  that  they  had  not  the  least 
conception  of  the  interior  meaning  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  character,  or  rather  the  absence  of  character,  oi 
this  animalized  horde  is  represented  in  Pharaoh,  the 
King  of  Egypt;  much  is  said  of  this  haughty,  insolent, 
and  imperious  king  in  the  book  of  Exodus.  The  name 
of  this  remarkable  book  suggests  the  nature  of  its 
contents.  Exodus  means  "the  way  out,"  the  way  out 
of  the  carnal  and  animalized  state  of  consciousness. 
Perhaps,  no  book  was  ever  written  which  so  specifically 
describes  the  way  of  salvation;  it  is  a  classic  from  the 
standpoint  of  Professor  James's  definition  of  psychology. 
It  is  certainly  an  unique  "description  and  explanation 
of  the  states  of  consciousness  as  such. " 

This  conceited  exploiter  of  men  lives  and  teaches  the 
carnal  life;  he  knows  no  other;  he  has  no  knowledge  of 
that  high  and  holy  kingdom  that  transcends  the  animal 
kingdom  of  the  world.  "And  Pharaoh  said,  who  is  the 
Lord  God,  that  I  should  obey  his  voice  to  let  Israel  go? 


64  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

I  know  not  the  Lord,  neither  will  I  let  Israel  go"  (Ex. 
5:2).  He  knows  nothing  of  the  Lord  God  of  Shem;  he 
knows  nothing  of  the  Lord  of  wisdom,  and  the  God  of 
goodness;  he  is  the  king,  and  the  representative  of  the 
children  of  Ham  (Ps.  105:  23).  This  exploiter,  this 
lover  of  war  and  conquest,  this  lover  of  luxury  and 
pomp,  is  the  representative  of  primitive  man ;  he  is  the 
representative  of  "our  Gentile  state."  "Then  were 
we  in  our  Gentile  state,  fulfilling  the  desires  of  the 
flesh"  (Eph.  2:3,  n). 

"I  raised  thee  up,  for  to  show  in  thee  my  power;  and 
that  my  name  [my  character]  may  be  declared  through- 
out all  the  earth"  (Ex.  9:  16).  Perhaps  nothing  in  the 
history  of  man  so  declares  the  power  and  glory  of  God, 
and  the  weak  and  transitory  nature  of  worldly  pomp  and 
glory  as  the  tragic  end  of  the  Pharaoh,  the  Caesar, 
and  the  Napoleon.  God  smites  and  cuts  off  from  the 
earth  the  exploiters  of  men  (Ex.  9:  15).  The  hope  of 
man,  the  salvation  of  man,  consists  in  the  absolute 
abandonment  of  the  Gentile  state  of  consciousness. 
The  Scriptures  point  the  exodus,  "the  way  out."  "All 
the  people  that  were  men  of  war,  which  came  out  of 
Egypt,  were  consumed,  because  they  obeyed  not  the 
voice  of  the  Lord"  (Josh.  5:  6).  The  pompous,  the 
conceited,  the  luxurious,  the  selfish,  the  carnal,  the  war- 
like, are  destined  to  destruction.  The  meek,  the  self- 
governing,  the  just  are  they  who  are  destined  to  inherit 
the  earth,  as  well  as  the  glory  of  heaven.  "Blessed  are 
the  meek;  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth"  (Matt.  5:5). 

The  children  of  Japheth  are  they  who  have  attained 
to  an  intermediary  state  of  consciousness.  They  are 
capable  of  being  led  and  taught.  They  are  more  in- 
fluenced by  their  affections  and  emotions,  than  by 
reason;  they  do  not  know  enough  to  bear  suffering  with 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          65 

patience;  they  are  effeminate  and  changeful;  they  are 
affectionate  and  trustful.  Because  of  their  unsettled 
and  vibratory  state  of  mind  and  heart,  they  are  said  to 
abide  in  booths,  and  to  lead  a  shifting  and  nomadic  life 
in  a  desert,  or  wilderness  land.  The  desert  is  inter- 
mediary between  Egypt  below,  and  the  promised  land 
above.  According  to  the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures, 
Egypt,  the  wilderness,  and  the  promised  land  are 
descriptive  of  states  of  consciousness.  It  is  purity  and 
virtue  in  the  human  heart  that  is  destined  to  make 
man's  dwelling-place  a  paradise.  To  the  poetic  mind  the 
promised  land  at  once  suggests  the  ideal  life,  the  life 
divine. 

That  all  the  good  the  past  hath  had 
Remains  to  make  our  own  time  glad, 
Our  common,  daily  life  divine, 
And  every  land  a  Palestine. 

WHITTIER:  Old  and  New. 

"Let  us  go,  we  pray  thee,  three  days'  journey  into 
the  desert,  and  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  our  God;  lest 
he  fall  upon  us  with  pestilence,  or  with  the  sword" 
(Ex.  5:3).  They  that  abandon  Egypt,  they  that  join 
in  the  exodus,  and  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  to  find 
the  "way  out,"  are  they  that  are  tired  and  sick  of  the 
lies,  and  conceits,  and  persecution,  and  tyranny  of  the 
Hamites;  they  are  those  who  feel  in  their  hearts  that 
"the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  all 
ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of  men,  who  hold 
truth  and  justice  in  contempt"  (Rom.  1:18);  they 
believe  that  the  wicked  are  doomed  to  certain  and 
adequate  punishment,  and  this  they  liken  to  a  pestilence 
or  the  violence  of  the  sword.  "  Be  not  deceived ;  God  is 

5 


66  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

not  mocked :  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he 
also  reap"  (Gal.  6:7). 

When  the  affections  of  the  heart  are  in  harmony  with 
truth,  justice,  and  mercy;  when  they  are  in  league  with 
reason,  then  does  God  enlarge  Japheth  (Gen.  9:  27); 
but  when  they  are  set  upon  the  things  of  the  world, 
when  they  are  in  league  with  Satan,  the  animal  God, 
then  is  Japheth  in  a  state  of  diminution  and  death. 
As  long  as  the  affections  are  enamored  of  the  things  of 
the  world,  man  is  in  bondage;  he  is  in  Egypt;  but  as 
soon  as  the  affections  are  at  enmity  with  the  sensuous 
life  of  the  world,  then  is  man  on  his  way  to  the  promised 
land  by  the  way  of  the  desert.  "Let  us  go,  we  pray 
thee,  three  days'  journey  into  the  desert,  and  sacrifice 
unto  the  Lord  our  God."  When  man  has  gone  three 
days'  journey  into  the  desert,  he  is  divorced,  he  is 
separated  from  the  Egyptian  state  of  consciousness;  he 
is  then  prepared  to  offer  a  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  his 
God ;  he  is  then  on  the  way  to  sacrifice  his  animals,  the 
vestiges  of  animalism  that  inhere  in  the  soul  of  un- 
regenerate  man. 

Why  a  three  days'  journey  into  the  desert.  Three 
suggests  a  perfect  change ;  it  means  an  absolute  separa- 
tion from  the  Egyptian  state  and  the  initiation  of  a 
new  and  higher  state  represented  by  the  desert  life;  it 
means  that  the  affections  are  given  a  new  direction. 
"Set  your  affections  on  things  above,  not  on  things  on 
the  earth.  For  when  ye  are  dead  to  the  things  of  the 
world,  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God"  (Col.  3:2). 
It  is  written  that  the  children  of  Israel  after  they  had 
abandoned  Egypt  lapsed  into  a  state  of  idolatry;  that 
when  Moses  delayed  to  come  down  from  the  mount 
the  people  prevailed  with  Aaron  to  make  a  molten  calf, 
and  that  they  worshipped  it  (Ex.  32 :  l-io).  This  shows 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          67 

that  the  people  were  fitful,  and  "unstable  as  water" 
(Gen.  49 :  4) ;  that  the  people  as  yet  had  no  conception 
of  principles.  "Principle, "  said  Hannah  Moore,  " is  the 
test  of  the  action."  It  is  submitted  that  the  phrase, 
"three  days'  journey  into  the  desert,"  when  contem- 
plated as  a  principle,  means  the  abandonment  of  the 
Egyptian  state  of  consciousness,  and  the  beginning  of 
the  worship  of  "the  God  of  the  Hebrews"  (Ex.  5:3). 

Man  is  taught  obedience  by  the  things  which  he 
suffers  (Heb.  5:8).  Every  one  who  goes  to  the  Promised 
Land  must  go  by  the  way  of  the  desert.  He  is  destined 
to  have  his  "forty  days',"  or  "forty  years'"  experience 
in  the  wilderness;  he  must  be  taught  the  whole  way 
(Deut.  8 :  2) ;  "  He  shall  indeed  drink  of  my  cup  "  (Matt. 
20:  23).  The  expressions:  "Forty  days,"  and  "forty 
years,"  are  identical  in  meaning;  they  indicate  not  a 
fixed  period  of  time,  but  that  epoch  in  the  soul's  evolu- 
tion, when  it  is  disciplined  and  chastened,  and  taught 
obedience  by  suffering.  "The  Lord  found  Jacob  in  a 
desert  land,  and  in  a  waste  howling  wilderness;  he  led 
him  about,  he  instructed  him,  he  kept  him  as  the  apple 
of  his  eye"  (Deut.  32:  10).  The  experience  of  Jacob  is 
the  experience  of  every  regenerate  soul;  first  the  Egyp- 
tian state,  the  Gentile  state,  the  godless  state  of  the 
soul  of  man,  and  then  the  desert  life. 

Man  may  experience  the  horrors  of  the  desert  life 
living  in  London,  provided  God  has  so  enlarged  his 
heart  that  he  heartily  hates  a  low  and  vulgar  life,  and  is 
willing  at  any  expense  to  stand  for  truth  and  justice. 
Tolstoy,  who  lived  among  the  Hamites,  was  chastened 
and  disciplined;  he  attained  to  "the  day  of  temptation 
in  the  wilderness"  (Ps.  95:  8).  "The  horror  of  great 
darkness  that  fell  upon  him"  (Gen.  15: 12),  the  dreadful 
experience  that  so  changed  his  name,  his  character,  is 


68  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

graphically  described  in  My  Confession.  In  his  Con- 
fession, he  tells  of  his  very  great  suffering,  and  how  his 
views  of  life  were  changed ;  in  a  word,  he  describes  the 
process  by  which  he  was  "turned  into  another  man" 
(i  Sam.  10:  6).  It  is  said  that  the  last  writings  of  this 
holy  man  in  which  he  fearlessly  and  unqualifiedly 
condemned  the  wickedness  of  the  ruling  class  of  Russia, 
both  in  Church  and  State,  were  consigned  to  the  flames 
by  the  "Holy  Synod"  of  the  Greek  Church  of  Russia. 
"O  God,  how  long  shall  the  adversary  reproach? 
shall  the  enemy  blaspheme  thy  name  forever?"  (Ps. 
74:  10).  But  why  complain?  What  godlike  man  was 
ever  popular  with  constituted  authority? 

"Behold  I  will  allure  her  [the  human  soul],  and  bring 
her  into  the  wilderness,  and  speak  comfortably  unto 
her.  And  I  will  give  her  a  vineyard  from  thence. "  It 
is  in  the  wilderness  that  the  children  of  Japheth  attain 
to  "a  door  of  hope,"  and  sing  as  in  the  days  of  their 
youth.  It  is  there  that  their  names,  their  characters  are 
changed;  it  is  there  that  their  lives  undergo  a  great  and 
godly  reformation.  It  is  in  the  desert,  it  is  amid  trials 
and  temptations,  that  these  children  overcome  and 
sacrifice  their  animal  propensities;  it  is  there  that  God 
aids  them  to  conquer  and  to  destroy  the  seed  of  Satan 
in  their  own  souls.  "And  it  shall  be  in  that  day  [the 
day  of  reformation],  saith  the  Lord,  that  thou  shalt 
call  me  Ishi  [Love  and  Truth,  and  Righteousness] ;  and 
shalt  call  me  no  more  Baali  [my  idol,  my  tribal  god]. 
For  I  will  take  away  the  names  of  Baalim  [the  names 
of  the  false  gods]  out  of  her  mouth,  and  they  shall  no 
more  be  remembered.  ...  I  will  even  betroth  thee 
unto  me  in  faithfulness;  and  thou  shalt  know  the  Lord  " 
(Hosea  2:  14-20). 

The  children  of  Japheth  are  they  who  have  aban- 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          69 

doned  the  Gentile  state;  they  who  have  escaped  the 
bondage  of  their  carnal  animal  appetites;  they  are 
Israelites;  they  are  Jews.  In  the  evolution  of  the  soul 
of  man,  he  is  first  a  Gentile,  and  then  an  Israelite,  or  a 
Jew.  These  names  are  not  used  in  the  Scriptures  in  an 
arbitrary  way,  but  they  are  used  to  describe  states  of 
consciousness.  He  is  a  Gentile  who  is  the  victim  of  his 
carnal  appetites.  He  is  an  Israelite,  or  a  Jew,  who  lives 
a  life  of  virtue,  who  is  master  of  himself.  "  He  is  a  Jew 
who  is  one  in  his  heart"  (Rom.  2:  29).  "Salvation  is 
of  the  Jews"  (John  4:  22).  "Remember  that  ye  were 
in  time  past  Gentiles  in  the  flesh.  .  .  .  That  at  that 
time  ye  were  without  Christ,  being  aliens  from  tha 
commonwealth  of  Israel,  and  strangers  from  the 
covenants  of  promise"  (Eph.  2:11,  12). 

Paul  tells  how  he  "came  and  preached  peace  to  them 
which  were  afar  off  [the  Gentiles],  and  to  them  that 
were  nigh"  [the  Jews]  (Eph.  2:  17).  It  is,  therefore, 
apparent  that  the  names:  Gentile,  and  Israelite,  or  Jew, 
represent  states  of  consciousness.  No  man  who  lives 
in  the  Gentile  state,  no  man  who  lives  to  gratify  his 
carnal  desires,  no  man  who  lives  on  the  plane  of  animal- 
ism has  any  conception  of  God  or  moral  order.  "  Who 
are  Israelites;  to  whom  pertaineth  the  adoption,  and 
the  glory,  and  the  covenants,  and  the  giving  of  the  Law, 
and  the  service  of  God,  and  the  promise?"  (Rom.  9:4). 
Man  honors  God,  man  reveres  God,  man  serves  God, 
who  lives  a  clean,  virtuous,  and  just  life ;  and  any  other 
sort  of  life  is  a  mockery  and  a  pretense.  In  a  word, 
every  unjust  person,  every  unclean  person,  is  a  Gentile, 
and  every  clean  and  just  person  is  an  Israelite,  and  this 
is  true  without  reference  to  nationality,  or  race. 
"There  dwelt  at  Jerusalem,  Jews,  devout  men,  out  of 
every  nation  under  heaven"  (Acts  2:5).  "God  is  no 


70  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

respecter  of  persons ;  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
Him  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  acceptable"  (Acts 
10:  35).  It  is  the  truth  that  makes  clean.  "Now  ye 
are  clean  through  the  word  which  I  have  spoken  unto 
you"  (John  15:3). 

The  third  and  rarest  class  of  mankind  are  the  children 
of  Shem.  John  Ruskin,  when  discoursing  on  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  rainbow,  said: 

In  that  heavenly  circle  which  binds  the  statute  of  color 
upon  the  front  of  the  sky,  when  it  became  the  sign  of  the 
covenant  of  peace,  the  pure  hues  of  divided  light  were 
sanctified  to  the  human  heart  forever;  nor  this,  it  would 
seem,  by  mere  arbitrary  appointment,  but  in  consequence 
of  the  foreordained  and  marvelous  constitution  of  those 
hues  into  sevenfold,  or,  more  strictly  still,  a  threefold  order, 
typical  of  the  Divine  nature  Itself.  Observe  also,  the  name 
Shem,  or  Splendor,  given  to  the  son  of  Noah  in  whom  this 
covenant  was  to  be  fulfilled. 

It  would  seem  that  the  seven  colors,  or  rather  the  three 
primary  colors  of  the  rainbow,  prefigure  the  splendor 
and  glory  of  regenerate  man.  What  could  be  more 
suggestive  of  purity  and  splendor  than  the  hues  of  the 
rainbow?  It  may  be  said  that  the  colors  of  the  rainbow 
represent  the  attributes  of  God,  which  find  expression 
in  human  nature.  "I  am  the  Lord  that  do  work  love, 
justice,  and  righteousness ;  for  in  these  things  I  delight, 
saith  the  Lord"  (Jere.  9:  24). 

The  children  of  Shem  are  they  that  manifest  in  their 
lives  love,  justice,  and  righteousness.  The  Lord  is  their 
inheritance  (Deut.  10:  9;  Ezek.  44:  28)  and  they  are  the 
inheritance  of  the  Lord  (Deut.  32:  9;  Ex.  19:  5).  The 
just  are  they  who  have  escaped  the  corruptions  of  the 
world,  and  are  "partakers  of  the  Divine  nature"  (2 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          71 

Peter  1:4).  Emerson  in  a  public  address  said:  "If  a 
man  is  at  heart  just,  then,  in  so  far  is  he  God.  The 
safety  of  God,  the  majesty  of  God,  do  enter  into  the 
mind  with  justice."  And  again  he  said:  "Ineffable  is 
the  union  of  man  and  God  in  every  act  of  the  Soul; 
the  simple  person  who,  in  his  integrity,  worships  God, 
becomes  God;  yet  forever  and  ever  the  influx  of  this 
better  and  universal  Self  is  new  and  unsearchable." 
All  virtue,  all  truth,  all  justice  is  of  God.  "For  what 
maketh  thee  to  differ  from  another?  and  what  hast  thou 
that  thou  didst  not  receive?"  (i  Cor.  4:7).  "That 
which  may  be  known  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  the 
lives  of  the  just"  (Rom.  1 :  9).  "He  that  hath  seen  me 
hath  seen  the  Father"  (John  14:  9). 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  man  inherits  God,  and  God 
inherits  man.  This  reciprocity  of  inheritance  is  glorious, 
it  is  scientific ;  it  bespeaks  the  high  and  holy  possibilities 
of  man.  To  the  illumined  this  idea  is  the  source  of 
indescribable  edification.  Man  is  a  "partaker  of  the 
Divine  nature";  this  divine  relation  constitutes  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
The  Hebrew  Scriptures  teach  the  dignity  of  man,  and 
the  equality  of  men  before  God.  "Honor  all  men"  (i 
Peter  2:17);  every  man  is  his  brother's  keeper. 

In  a  book  entitled  Judaism  and  Its  History,  contain- 
ing a  series  of  lectures  by  Abraham  Geiger,  late  a  Rabbi 
of  an  Israelite  Congregation  at  Frankfort  on  the  Main, 
is  the  following: 

Judaism  has  not  allowed  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  to  be 
grafted  into  it,  though  great  pains  were  taken  in  the  attempt 
to  deduce  the  idea  from  the  Scriptures ;  it  has  not  permitted 
the  annihilation  of  the  title  of  the  nobility  of  mankind,  and 
has  clung  to  the  conviction  that  man  has  been  invested  by 
God  with  the  power  of  free  self-determination  and  self- 


72  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

improvement;  that  despite  the  sensual  propensities  innate 
in  man's  nature,  he  is  vested  with  the  power  of  conquering 
them  and  of  reaching  by  his  own  exertions  the  goal  of 
elation  and  ennoblement.  And  precisely  because  Judaism 
remained  free  from  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  and  the 
corruption  of  human  nature,  it  never  had  any  need  or 
desire  for  again  attaining  purification  by  means  of  an 
extraneous  redemption.  It  has  never  exchanged  its  Merciful 
God  for  the  God  of  that  Love  which,  to  satisfy  anger, 
requires  a  grand,  sufficient,  vicarious  sacrifice. 


The  Hebrew  Scriptures  teach  the  orderly  evolution  of 
the  soul;  the  process  is  inward,  subjective,  and  psy- 
chological. God  has  endowed  the  human  soul  with 
reason  "to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it"  (Gen.  2:  15) ;  and  it, 
therefore,  follows  that  the  purification  and  redemption 
of  the  human  soul  is  not  accomplished  by  "an  extrane- 
ous redemption."  "Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of 
Shem;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant"  (Gen.  9:  26); 
blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  the  wise,  the  just,  and  the 
righteous.  Shem  represents  the  Splendor  of  man,  mind 
lifted  up  above  the  things  of  the  sensuous  world,  "mind, 
true  and  free  and  in  harmony  with  nature. "  The  just 
are  ruled  of  God;  they  are  related  to  His  kingdom; 
their  souls  are  attuned  to  truth;  they  speak  the  truth 
in  any  presence;  and  for  speaking  it  they  have  been 
maligned,  persecuted,  poisoned,  and  crucified  the  world 
over  by  the  children  of  Ham.  The  just  are  they  that 
bear  the  ark  of  the  covenant;  the  soul  of  the  just  man 
is  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  The  children  of  Shem  are 
they  that  stand  before  the  Lord,  and  minister  unto  Him, 
and  bless  in  His  name  (Deut.  10:  8).  The  blessing  of 
the  just  is  the  blessing  of  God;  for  His  Spirit  is  in  them 
(Gen.  41:  38).  Man  is  not  man  until  the  Spirit  and 


Noah,  his  Ark,  and  the  Flood          73 

power  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  him.    "He  that  hath 
seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father. " 

Progress  is  the  Law  of  Life, 
Man  is  not  Man  as  yet. 

BROWNING. 

The  children  of  Shem  are  they  that  keep  the  cove- 
nant of  which  the  rainbow  is  the  token;  they  are  a 
peculiar  treasure  unto  God  above  all  people ;  they  are  a 
kingdom  of  priests,  and  a  holy  nation  (Ex.  19:  5,  6). 
The  children  of  Shem,  the  children  of  the  regenerate, 
are  "the  children  of  the  promise,  that  are  counted  for 
the  seed"  (Rom.  9:8).  The  Scriptures  teach  that  the 
reformation  of  mankind  is  to  be  accomplished  through 
the  children  of  the  regenerate.  Men  and  women  owe  it 
to  God  and  man  to  live  clean  and  virtuous  lives,  that 
their  children  may  be  without  blemish  in  mind,  and 
soul,  and  body.  How  few  there  are  who  live  above  the 
spirit  of  the  world,  who  sincerely  and  habitually  seek 
to  conform  their  lives  to  the  high  and  holy  ideals  of  the 
Scriptures.  In  a  word,  how  few  there  are  who  live 
worthy  of  parentage ;  and  yet  every  rational  being  must 
know  that  this  is  an  heaven-imposed  duty. 

Egypt,  "the  land  of  Ham"  (Ps.  105:  23),  is  the  home 
of  primitive  man;  this  land  like  the  Egyptians  who 
abided  there  in  the  days  of  Moses,  represents  a  low 
carnal  state  of  consciousness.  The  desert,  or  wilder- 
ness, into  which  Moses  led  the  children  of  Israel  is 
intermediary  between  Egypt  below  and  the  promised 
land  above,  or  beyond.  The  desert,  like  the  children 
of  Israel  who  were  there  disciplined,  and  chastened, 
represents  a  state  of  consciousness  above  the  Egyptian ; 
the  desert  is  the  abode  of  them  that  dwell  in  booths. 
The  promised  land  represents  an  high  and  holy  state  of 


74  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

consciousness ;  it  is  the  home  of  the  elect ;  it  is  the  land  of 
Shem.  This  land  represents  that  state  wherein  man 
"shall  not  lack  anything"  (Deut.  8:  9).  The  sons  of 
Noah,  who  went  forth  of  the  ark,  represent  those  who 
have  forever  peopled  the  earth.  "These  are  the  sons 
of  Noah;  and  of  them  was  the  whole  earth  overspread" 
(Gen.  9:  19). 


CHAPTER    III 

THE  STORY  OF  ABRAHAM,  THE  HEBREW 

I  am  the  Almighty  God,  walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect.     (Gen. 
17:  i). 

IN  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  is  written,  that 
"  Terah  begat  Abram,  Nahor,  and  Haran ;  and  Haran 
begat  Lot."  It  will  be  observed  that  Lot  is  related  to 
Abram,  as  Canaan  was  to  Shem  (Gen.  9:  18),  and 
Abram,  like  Shem,  "holds  fast  to  his  integrity"  (Job 
2:3);  but  Lot  is  as  "unstable  as  water."  States  or 
planes  of  consciousness  are  described  and  explained  in 
the  Scriptures,  over  and  over,  by  contrasting  the  con- 
duct and  the  utterances  of  individuals.  Man  does  what 
he  does  because  he  is  what  he  is.  When  man  is  faithful 
to  reason  and  conscience  his  conduct  can  be  predicted ; 
but  when  he  abides  on  the  animal  plane  of  consciousness, 
when  he  is  the  victim  of  anger,  hypocrisy,  superstition, 
falsehood,  envy,  greed,  lust,  malice,  and  revenge,  then 
it  is  impossible  to  predict  his  conduct. 

Abram  is  self-reliant;  he  is  controlled  of  reason;  he 
is  controlled  from  within,  and  not  from  without.  Lot  is 
the  victim  of  his  desires.  Desire  is  the  craving  of  the 
lower  sensuous  nature  of  man  for  things  that  offer 
carnal  comfort  and  pleasure;  and  Lot,  like  all  the 
carnally  minded,  is  led  hither  and  yon  by  those  objects 
75 


76  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

that  offer  carnal  gratification;  and  it  may  be  said  that 
he  is  controlled  from  without,  rather  than  from  within. 
In  a  word,  he  who  is  absolutely  faithful  to  reason  walks 
upright  before  God  and  man;  but  he  who  is  carnally 
minded  disregards  reason  and  is  not  governed  by  that 
which  brings  him  into  harmony  with  the  divine  order, 
but  he  is  led  in  every  conceivable  direction  by  objects 
which  promise  carnal  and  sensual  pleasure. 

Reason  in  Man  obscured,  or  not  obeyed, 
Immediately  inordinate  desires 
And  upstart  passions  catch  the  government 
From  Reason,  and  to  servitude  reduce 
Man,  till  then  free.     Therefore,  since  he  permits 
Within  himself  unworthy  powers  to  reign 
Over  free  Reason,  God,  in  judgment  just, 
Subjects  him  from  without  to  violent  lords, 
Who  oft  as  undeservedly  enthral  ^ 

His  outward  freedom.    Tyranny  must  be, 
Though  to  the  tyrant  thereby  no  excuse. 
Yet  sometimes  nations  will  decline  so  low 
From  Virtue,  which  is  Reason,  that  no  wrong, 
But  justice  and  some  fatal  curse  annexed, 
Deprives  them  of  their  outward  liberty, 
Their  inward  lost;  witness  the  irreverent  son 
Of  him  who  built  the  ark,  who,  for  the  shame 
Done  to  his  father,  heard  this  heavy  curse, 
Servant  of  servants,  on  his  vicious  race. 

MILTON:  Paradise  Lost,  Twelfth  Book. 

"And  Terah  took  Abram  his  son,  and  Lot  the  son  of 
Haran  .  .  .  and  they  came  unto  Haran,  and  dwelt 
there"  (Gen.  11:  31).  It  will  be  observed  that  Terah 
took  Abram  and  Sarai,  the  wife  of  Abram,  and  Lot,  and 
went  forth  with  them,  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  unto 
Haran,  and  that  the  place  to  which  they  migrated 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    77 

bears  the  name  of  Terah's  son,  the  father  of  Lot. 
"They  came  unto  Haran,  and  dwelt  there";  this 
language  evidently  describes  a  low  state  of  conscious- 
ness, a  state,  it  would  seem,  resembling  the  Egyptian. 
"Now  the  Lord  had  said  unto  Abram,  Get  thee  out  of 
thy  country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy 
father's  house,  unto  a  land  that  I  will  show  thee;  and  I 
will  make  thee  a  great  nation,  and  I  will  bless  thee  and 
make  thy  name  great ;  and  thou  shalt  be  a  blessing.  .  .  . 
So  Abram  departed,  as  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  him ; 
and  Lot  went  with  him."  This  is  a  splendid  figure  of 
speech ;  Abram  is  here  represented  as  abandoning  Haran ; 
he  goes  forth  to  find  the  promised  land,  "a  land  that 
God  will  show  him"  (Gen.  12 :  i).  "And  Lot  went  with 
Abram."  We  shall  presently  see  how  Lot  falls  into 
trouble  and  how  Abram  rescues  him.  He  who  lives  on 
the  higher  plane  of  consciousness  rescues  him  who 
lives  on  the  lower.  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?" 

Abram  abandons  Haran ;  he  goes  forth  to  possess  the 
promised  land,  "a  land  wherein  man  shall  not  lack 
anything"  (Deut.  8:9),  the  land  that  is  a  symbol  of  the 
highest  state  of  consciousness  of  which  man  in  his 
present  state  has  any  knowledge.  The  Lord's  com- 
mand to  Abram  to  abandon  Haran,  his  country,  and 
his  kindred,  and  his  father's  house  calls  to  mind  that 
passage  of  Scripture  which  the  ignorant  and  conceited 
have  so  often  quoted  and  criticized,  "If  any  man  come 
to  me,  and  hate  not  his  father,  and  mother,  and  wife, 
and  children,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  yea,  and  his 
life  also,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple"  (Luke  14:  26). 
Abram  is  here  represented  as  severing  every  tie  that 
bound  him  to  the  carnal  state;  and  Jesus  says  that  no 
man  can  be  his  disciple  unless  he  hates  the  carnal  life, 
in  father,  mother,  wife,  brother,  sister,  or  in  himself. 


78  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Man  must  abandon  Haran  if  he  would  be  a  disciple  of 
Jesus ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  man  will  abandon  the 
sensuous  life,  and  live  above  the  animal  spirit  of  the 
world,  unless  there  has  sprung  up  in  his  heart  an  enmity, 
a  hatred  of  the  spirit  of  the  world.  "God's  anointed 
are  they  that  love  righteousness  and  hate  wickedness" 
(Ps.  45:7).  Let  the  soul  of  man.  the  daughter  of 
God,  flee  the  carnal  life;  for  this  is  the  way  of  sal- 
vation. "Hearken,  O  daughter,  and  consider,  and 
incline  thine  ear;  forget  also  thine  own  people,  and 
thy  father's  house ;  so  shall  the  king  greatly  desire  thy 
beauty:  for  He  is  thy  Lord;  and  worship  thou  Him" 
(Ps.45:io). 

"Get  thee  out  of  thy  country,  and  from  thy  kindred, 
and  from  thy  father's  house,  unto  a  land  that  I  will 
show  thee."  This  is  the  imperative  command  of 
Heaven  to  every  rational  soul;  it  points  the  way  of 
salvation;  and  there  is  no  other.  It  is  written  that 
Abram  took  Sarai  his  wife,  and  Lot,  "and  the  souls  that 
they  had  gotten  in  Haran,"  and  went  forth  into  the 
land  of  Canaan.  The  souls  that  we  know  in  this  world 
are  "gotten  in  Haran."  Every  human  being  who  is 
born  into  the  world  is  begotten  in  Haran;  Haran  repre- 
sents the  carnal  world;  and  every  human  soul  which 
abides  in  a  body  of  flesh  begins  its  sojourn  on  earth  in 
Haran.  "The  first  man  [the  outer  physical  man]  is  of 
the  earth,  earthy;  the  second  Man  [the  inner,  the 
mental,  the  spiritual  Man]  is  the  image  of  the  Lord  of 
heaven"  (i  Cor.  15:  47).  "And  Eve  bare  Cain,  and 
said,  I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord"  (Gen.  4:1). 
The  Mind  is  the  Man.  "As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent 
in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  son  of  man  [the 
mind  of  man]  be  lifted  up;  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  [that  whosoever  believeth  in  the  high  and  holy 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    79 

possibilities  of  man]  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal 
life"  (John  3:  14). 

It  is  written  that  Abram  journeyed  for  a  time  in 
Canaan;  and  that  there  was  a  famine  in  the  land:  "that 
Abram  went  down  into  Egypt  to  sojourn  there;  for  the 
famine  was  grievous  in  the  land";  and  that  Abram 
advised  Sarai  his  wife  to  say  to  the  Egyptians  that  she 
was  his  sister.  "Say,  I  pray  thee,  thou  art  my  sister." 
This  singular  statement  is  intended  to  tell,  and  does 
tell  what  the  Egyptians  represent.  According  to  the 
symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  they  represent  the  fallen, 
carnal  state  of  man,  his  primitive  state,  the  Gentile 
state  (Eph.  2:  3,  11).  It  will  be  observed  that  "Abram 
went  down  into  Egypt."  What  sort  of  famine  is  this 
which  compels  Abram  to  sojourn  for  a  time  in  Egypt? 
Is  it  a  famine  of  bread,  or  a  famine  of  virtue?  What  is 
it  that  fills  the  world  with  sin  and  death?  What  is  it 
that  brings  plagues  upon  Pharaoh  and  his  house?  It  is 
the  absence  of  virtue.  "And  the  Lord  plagued  Pharaoh 
and  his  house  with  great  plagues  because  of  Sarai 
Abram's  wife."  This  is  the  fate  of  carnality.  The 
curse  of  heaven  is  upon  it.  The  blessing  which  attended 
Abram  is  the  blessing  which  forever  attends  virtue. 
"I  will  bless  thee,  and  make  thy  name  great;  and 
thou  shalt  be  a  blessing ;  and  I  will  bless  them  that 
bless  thee,  and  curse  him  that  curseth  thee ;  and  in 
thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed"  (Gen. 
12:2,3). 

"And  Abram  went  up  out  of  Egypt,  he,  and  his  wife, 
and  Lot  with  him.  .  .  .  And  he  went  on  his  journey 
from  the  south  even  to  Bethel,  unto  the  place  where  his 
tent  had  been  at  the  beginning,  between  Bethel  and 
Hai. "  Bethel  represents  an  high  and  holy  state  of 
consciousness  (Gen.  35:  i).  Abram's  mind  and  heart 


8o  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

are  set  upon  the  promised  land;  it  is  there  that  he 
builded  altars,  "and  called  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord" 
(Gen.  12:  7,  8).  This  land  represents  a  state  of  con- 
sciousness far  transcending  the  Egyptian;  but  Lot  is  not 
pleased  with  the  high  land,  he  prefers  the  low.  There 
was_a  strife  between  the  herdsmen  of  Abram's  cattle 
and  the  herdsmen  of  Lot's  cattle;  and  Abram  counseled 
peace;  and  there  was  a  division  of  land  between  them. 
Lot  chose  the  low  land,  the  plain  of  the  Jordan,  in 
which  were  the  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  "Abram 
dwelled  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  Lot  dwelled  in  the 
cities  of  the  plain,  and  pitched  his  tent  toward  Sodom. 
But  the  men  of  Sodom  were  wicked  and  sinners  before 
the  Lord  exceedingly."  Our  affections  determine  our 
associations;  men  pitch  their  tents  in  the  direction  of 
what  they  love.  "Their  abominations  were  according 
as  they  loved"  (Hosea  9: 10). 

Abram  is  the  possessor  of  the  promised  land.  "Arise, 
walk  through  the  land  in  the  length  of  it  and  in  the 
breadth  of  it;  for  I  will  give  it  unto  thee"  (Gen.  13: 17). 
He  that  attains  to  this  land  "shall  not  lack  anything" 
(Deut.  8:  9).  Abram's  inheritance  of  this  good  land 
recalls  what  Emerson  says  in  the  first  portion  of  his 
essay  on  History;  "There  is  One  Mind  common  to  all 
individual  men.  Every  man  is  an  inlet  to  the  same  and 
to  all  of  the  same.  He  that  is  once  admitted  to  the 
right  of  reason  is  made  a  freeman  of  the  whole  estate. 
.  .  .  Who  hath  access  to  this  universal  mind,  is  a 
party  to  all  that  is  or  can  be  done,  for  this  is  the  only 
and  sovereign  agent.  ...  Of  the  Universal  Mind  each 
individual  man  is  one  more  incarnation.  All  its  prop- 
erties consist  in  him."  The  promised  land  is  the  in- 
heritance of  each  and  all  of  God's  elect.  What  Emerson 
has  seen  fit  to  amplify  in  essays  is  here  abridged  into  a 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    81 

sentence.    What  a  profound  psychology  is  revealed  in 
the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures. 

In  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  Genesis  is  a  singular 
story  about  five  kings  waging  a  battle  against  four  kings. 
The  five  kings  were  joined  together  in  the  vale  of  Siddim, 
which  is  the  salt  sea;  they  are  the  kings  of  the  low 
lands;  they  represent  the  carnal  appetites.  "Twelve 
years  they  served  Chedorlaomer  [the  mind — that  which 
is  destined  to  glory],  and  in  the  thirteenth  year  they 
rebelled."  Plato  in  his  dialogue  Laws  speaks  of  three 
wants  and  desires. 

Now  these  are  eating  and  drinking  which  begin  at  birth; 
every  animal  has  a  natural  desire  for  them,  and  is  violently 
excited,  and  rebels  against  him  who  says  he  must  not  satisfy 
all  his  pleasures  and  appetites,  and  get  rid  of  the  corre- 
sponding pains.  And  the  third  and  greatest  and  sharpest 
want  and  desire  breaks  out  last,  and  is  the  fire  of  sexual  lust, 
which  kindles  in  men  every  species  of  wantonness  and  mad- 
ness. And  these  three  disorders  we  must  endeavor  to 
master  by  the  three  great  principles  of  fear  and  law  and 
right  reason. 

Lust  is  a  fierce  and  fiery  king,  and  his  attempted  rule 
begins  about  the  thirteenth  year,  the  age  of  puberty. 

And  Lot,  who  "pitched  his  tent  toward  Sodom, "  was 
captured  by  the  five  kings.  "And  they  took  Lot,  who 
dwelt  in  Sodom,  and  his  goods  and  departed.  And 
there  came  one  that  had  escaped,  and  told  Abram 
the  Hebrew.  .  .  .  And  when  Abram  heard  that  his 
brother  was  taken  captive,  he  armed  his  trained 
servants,  born  in  his  own  house,  three  hundred  and 
eighteen,  and  pursued  them  unto  Dan.  And  he  divided 
himself  against  them,  and  smote  them. "  The  name  Dan 
means  judgment  or  justice;  Abram  pursued  them  to 

A 


82  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

justice.  He  who  would  conquer  his  five  kings,  or  would 
rescue  his  brother  who  is  the  victim  of  his  five  kings, 
must  rely  upon  "his  trained  servants,  born  in  his 
own  house,"  and  these  trained  servants,  the  righteous 
affections  of  the  heart,  must  act  in  obedience  to  their 
lord  and  master,  Reason.  Abram's  victory  is  complete; 
the  power  of  the  five  kings  is  destroyed,  and  Lot  and  his 
goods  are  restored.  Why  Abram  has  just  three  hundred 
and  eighteen  trained  servants,  who  were  born  in  his 
own  house,  is  a  matter  of  some  mystery.  Numbers, 
when  used  objectively,  ordinarily  express  quantity; 
but  when  used  in  a  subjective  or  psychological  sense, 
express  quality.  This  number,  it  would  seem,  is  sugges- 
tive of  unity,  and  perfection  within  the  soul  of  Abram. 

When  Abram  returned  from  his  victorious  campaign 
against  the  rebellious  kings  that  abided  in  the  low  land 
"full  of  slime  pits,"  he  was  banqueted,  like  all  the 
sons  of  God  who  have  overcome  the  world.  "Abraham 
saw  my  day,  and  rejoiced"  (John  8:  56).  "And  Mel- 
chisedec  King  of  Salem  brought  forth  bread  and  wine: 
and  he  was  the  priest  of  the  Most  High  God.  And  he 
blessed  him,  and  said,  Blessed  be  Abram  of  the  Most 
High  God,  possessor  of  heaven  and  earth:  and  blessed 
be  the  Most  High  God,  which  has  delivered  thy  enemies 
into  thy  hand.  And  Abram  gave  him  tithes  of  all." 
Abram  is  a  master  in  Israel;  God  girded  him  with 
strength  whereby  he  conquered  and  destroyed  his 
enemies.  "  I  have  pursued  mine  enemies,  and  overtaken 
them:  neither  did  I  turn  again  till  they  were  consumed. 
I  have  wounded  them  that  they  are  not  able  to  rise; 
they  are  fallen  under  my  feet.  For  thou  hast  girded 
me  with  strength  for  the  battle:  thou  hast  subdued 
under  me  those  that  rose  up  against  me  .  .  .  and  let 
the  Lord  God  of  my  salvation  be  exalted"  (Ps.  18:35- 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    83 

50).  Every  one  who  would  feed  upon  the  bread  and 
wine,  the  truth  and  wisdom  of  heaven,  brought  forth 
by  the  priest  of  the  Most  High  God,  must  conquer  and 
destroy  his  enemies  that  counsel  rebellion,  that  are 
joined  together  in  the  vale  of  Siddim,  the  vale  of  the 
slime-pits.  "But  those  mine  enemies,  which  would 
not  that  I  should  reign  over  them,  bring  hither,  and 
slay  them  before  me"  (Luke  19: 27). 

This  is  the  marriage  of  Cana;  it  is  the  celebration  of 
the  triumph  of  man  over  his  enemies,  the  rebellious 
kings  of  lust,  greed,  malice,  envy,  and  murder.  It  is  the 
triumph  of  man  over  his  animal  propensities.  When 
this  victory  is  accomplished,  then  is  there  harmony  and 
unity  within  the  soul;  and  this  unity  between  the  head 
and  the  heart,  between  wisdom  and  love,  is  the  marriage 
of  Cana;  and  is  what  Swedenborg  called  the  "Celestial 
marriage."  "And  Abram  gave  the  priest  of  the  Most 
High  God  tithes  of  all";  Abram  would  not  receive  any 
reward  from  the  King  of  Sodom,  the  king  of  the  world, 
not  even  a  shoe-latchet,  lest  the  King  of  Sodom  should 
say,  "I  have  made  Abram  rich."  Abram  recognizes 
God  and  God  alone  as  the  author  of  his  salvation; 
and  he  gave  tithes  of  all  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
mercy,  and  power,  and  goodness  of  God.  Abram  is 
resurrected  from  the  dead ;  he  has  cast  away  the  grave- 
clothes  that  bound  him  (John  1 1 :  44). 

The  story  of  the  five  kings  is  again  told  in  the  tenth 
chapter  of  Joshua;  he,  like  Abram,  conquers  and  de- 
stroys his  five  rebellious  kings;  and  it  is  God  who  gives 
the  victory.  "And  the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  Fear 
them  not;  for  I  have  delivered  them  unto  thine  hand" 
(Josh.  10:  8).  "Thy  carnal  nature  is  subject  unto  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  rule  over  it"  (Gen.  4:7).  God  has  put 
the  animal  propensities  of  man  within  the  power  of 


84  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

him  who  desires  to  conquer  and  destroy  them.  Let  no 
man  believe  that  he  can  escape  the  responsibilities  of 
life.  Every  rational  being  is  charged  with  heaven- 
imposed  duties.  The  Mind  is  the  Man.  Reason  in  its 
purity  is  divine  and  godlike.  "It  is  the  Lamb  of  God 
that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world"  (John  i:  29). 
"Send  ye  the  Lamb  to  the  ruler  of  the  land  from  Sela  to 
the  wilderness"  (Isa.  16:  i).  The  office  of  reason  is 
high  and  holy;  and  he  who  prostitutes  his  mind  offends 
against  God.  It  is  true  that  God  gives  the  increase, 
but  it  is  equally  true  that  man  is  charged  with  the 
responsibility  of  planting  and  watering.  "Every  man 
shall  receive  his  own  reward  according  to  his  own  labor. 
For  we  are  laborers  together  with  God"  (i  Cor.  3:  6-9). 

There  are  human  souls  which  give  no  evidence  of 
reason;  there  are  others  in  which  reason  is  fallen,  and 
debauched.  Mentality  in  its  purity  we  do  not  know. 
Plato  tells  us  in  his  dialogue  Laws,  that  "there  is  no 
law  or  order  which  is  above  knowledge,  nor  can  mind 
without  impiety,  be  deemed  the  subject  or  slave  of  any 
man,  but  rather  the  lord  of  all.  I  speak  of  mind,  true 
and  free  and  in  harmony  with  nature.  But  then  there 
is  no  such  mind  anywhere,  or  at  least  not  much;  and 
therefore  we  must  choose  law  and  order,  which  are 
the  second  best."  The  law  [represented  in  precepts, 
commands,  and  inhibitions]  is  not  made  for  the  righteous 
man,  but  for  the  lawless  and  the  disobedient,  for  the 
ungodly  and  for  sinners"  (i  Tim.  1:9). 

Joshua's  kings  evidently  went  into  rebellion  about 
the  thirteenth  year;  but  some  time  after  the  thirteenth 
year,  Joshua,  like  all  the  great,  with  the  help  of  God 
set  about  to  destroy  these  kings  that  "would  not  that 
he  should  reign  over  them."  When  right  reason  is 
aided  by  the  affections  of  a  righteous  heart,  when  the 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    85 

head  and  heart  act  in  unison,  then  are  the  five  kings  in 
peril,  then  is  "man  divided  against  them,  he  and  his 
trained  servants"  (Gen.  14:  15).  It  is  entirely  evident 
that  Joshua  divided  himself  against  his  five  kings,  for  it 
is  written  that  he  commanded  the  sun  and  moon  to 
stand  still  "until  the  people  ('his  trained  servants, 
born  in  his  own  house')  had  avenged  themselves  upon 
their  enemies.  Is  not  this  written  in  the  book  of  Jasher  ? ' ' 
The  book  of  Jasher  is  the  book  of  the  righteous,  of  the 
just.  This  legend,  or  a  like  one,  it  would  seem,  was 
recorded  in  this  ancient  and  lost  book. 

An  essential  function  of  the  sun  and  moon  is  to  give 
light.  Joshua  would  not  have  wisdom  and  reason,  the 
Light  of  the  soul,  cease  their  function  for  an  instant, 
when  he  was  engaged  in  the  battle  of  his  life  to  over- 
come the  world.  Joshua  "put  on  the  armour  of  Light," 
and  maintained  it.  Heaven  values  a  man  as  he  is 
faithful  to  the  Light  that  it  has  given  him.  Joshua  and 
his  trained  servants,  the  affections  of  a  righteous  heart, 
made  an  end  of  his  rebellious  kings.  "Come  near  put 
your  feet  upon  the  necks  of  these  kings.  And  they  came 
near,  and  put  their  feet  upon  the  necks  of  them.  And 
Joshua  said  unto  them,  Fear  not,  nor  be  dismayed, 
be  strong  and  of  good  courage;  for  thus  shall  the  Lord 
do  all  your  enemies  against  whom  ye  fight."  This  is 
evidently  an  allegory  descriptive  of  the  triumph  of 
wisdom,  the  Light  of  the  soul,  aided  by  the  affections  of 
a  righteous  heart,  over  all  that  is  false,  low,  and  rebel- 
lious within  the  soul  of  man. 

Joshua  before  he  had  attained  to  the  "fullness  of  the 
stature  of  Christ,"  was  called  Hoshea,  or  Oshea  (Deut. 
32:  44;  Num.  13:  8,  16);  but  when  he  had  prevailed 
with  God,  when  he  had  destroyed  his  rebellious  kings, 
there  was  prefixed  to  Oshea,  the  divine  name,  Jah  (Ps. 


86  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

68 :  4) ;  and  thus  his  name  became  Jehosua,  or  Joshua, 
Jehovah's  help,  a  Saviour.  Joshua  was  evidently 
resurrected  from  the  dead  while  living  in  the  world ;  and 
like  all  who  have  overcome  the  world,  he  belonged  to 
the  "unchangeable  priesthood,  the  priesthood  after  the 
order  of  Melchisedec"  (Heb.  7:  n,  24).  Joshua  was  a 
master  in  Israel,  a  Saviour.  It  was  he  who  gave  the 
command  to  cross  the  Jordan  on  the  third  day;  it  was 
he  who  led  the  children  of  Israel  into  their  inheritance, 
"into  the  possessions  of  the  Gentiles,  whom  God  drove 
out  before  the  face  of  the  fathers  of  Israel"  (Acts  7:  45). 
Joshua  did  what  he  could  to  lead  his  people  to  find  that 
rest  and  peace  that  abideth  forever  (Heb.  4:  8-u). 
Joshua  was  faithful  to  Reason,  the  Light  that  God  has 
put  into  his  soul.  He  believed  in  his  heart  that  God  is, 
and  that  He  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek 
Him.  The  light  of  reason,  the  light  of  wisdom,  sym- 
bolized by  the  sun  and  moon,  never  forsakes  the  just. 
"Thy  sun  shall  no  more  go  down,  neither  shall  thy 
moon  withdraw  itself,  for  the  Lord  shall  be  thine  ever- 
lasting Light,  and  the  days  of  thy  mourning  shall  be 
ended"  (Isa.  60:  20).  There  is  a  curse  pronounced 
upon  those  who  make  a  false  use  of  the  Light  that  God 
has  given  them.  "Night  shall  be  unto  you,  that  ye 
shall  not  have  a  vision;  and  it  shall  be  dark  unto  you, 
that  ye  shall  not  divine ;  and  the  sun  shall  go  down  over 
the  prophets,  and  the  day  shall  be  dark  over  them" 
(Micah  3:6). 

Men  do  themselves  indescribable  injury  by  asserting 
untruths;  they  destroy  the  Light  within  their  souls. 
"He  that  doeth  the  truth  cometh  to  the  Light,"  said 
Jesus;  and  it  follows  that  he  who  offends  against  the 
truth  cometh  to  darkness.  "When  the  habit  of  speak- 
ing the  truth  is  neglected,  the  capacity  for  perceiving  it 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    87 

is  gradually  lost. "  Evil  in  its  every  form  incapacitates 
man  from  loving  what  is  good  and  perceiving  what  is 
true.  ' '  False  words, ' '  said  Socrates, ' '  are  not  only  evil  in 
themselves,  but  they  infect  the  soul  with  evil."  This 
has  been  observed  by  men  far  less  renowned,  than  the 
sage  of  Athens.  Macaulay  in  his  essay  entitled:  Glad- 
stone on  Church  and  State,  said: 

The  keenest  and  most  vigorous  mind  of  every  generation, 
minds  often  admirably  fitted  for  the  investigation  of  truth, 
are  habitually  employed  in  producing  arguments  such  as  no 
man  of  sense  would  ever  put  into  a  treatise  intended  for 
publication.  .  .  .  The  habit  of  discussing  questions  in  this 
way  necessarily  reacts  on  the  intellects  of  our  ablest  men, 
particularly  of  those  who  are  introduced  into  parliament  at 
an  early  age.  .  .  .  Indeed,  we  should  sooner  expect  a 
great  original  work,  for  example,  as  the  Wealth  of  Nations, 
from  an  apothecary  in  a  country  town,  or  from  a  minister 
in  the  Hebrides,  than  from  a  statesman,  who,  ever  since  he 
was  one-and-twenty,  had  been  a  distinguished  debater  in 
the  House  of  Commons. 

That  evil  in  its  every  form  tends  to  an  atrophy  of  the 
mind,  and  in  harmony  within  the  soul,  is  taught  by  all 
the  wise.  "It  is  by  your  order,  O  Lord,  that  all  irregu- 
larity of  mind,"  said  St.  Augustine,  "should  carry  its 
punishment  along  with  it. "  When  one  commits  an 
injustice,  there  is  a  reaction  upon  him;  and  the  injury 
that  he  does  his  mind  and  soul  is  measured  by  the  wrong 
he  does.  That  man  is  destined  to  reap  the  fruit  of  his 
own  thought  and  conduct  is  a  scriptural  axiom.  "  I  will 
bring  evil  upon  this  people,  even  the  fruit  of  their 
thoughts"  (Jer.  6:  19;  Prov.  i:  31).  He  that  makes  a 
faithful  use  of  heaven's  bestowal  will  be  given  more,  but 
he  that  puts  it  to  a  false  use  is  destined  to  lose  it  (Matt. 

13:  12). 


88  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Recurring  again  to  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  Genesis 
which  recounts  how  Abram  destroyed  the  five  rebellious 
kings,  and  how  he  was  then  entertained  by  Melchisedec 
the  King  of  Salem,  who  brought  forth  bread  and  wine, 
the  symbols  of  truth  and  wisdom,  it  is  interesting  to 
note  what  immediately  follows  in  the  fifteenth  chapter. 

"  We  have  what  is  called  a  science  of  psychology, "  said 
Schopenhauer,  "but  no  psyche."  What  is  the  nature 
of  psyche?  Do  the  Scriptures  describe  the  human  soul, 
and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its  evolution?  The  late 
Prof.  William  James,  who  was  affectionately  spoken  of 
in  his  day  as  "the  unchallenged  veteran  leader  of 
American  psychology  and  philosophy,"  said:  "It  is 
indeed  strange  to  hear  people  talk  of  the  'New  Psy- 
chology,' and  write  histories  of  psychology,  when  into 
the  real  elements  and  forces  which  the  word  covers 
not  the  first  glimpse  of  clear  insight  exists.  .  .  .  This 
is  no  science,  it  is  only  the  hope  of  a  science."  It  is 
evident  that  psychology  has  made  little  or  no  progress 
as  a  science,  because  it  has  to  its  account  no  principles 
which  men  of  science  generally  acknowledge  as  true. 
How  is  a  science  to  be  builded  when  no  two  observers 
start  from  the  same  premise?  Reason,  as  the  old 
Greek  philosophers  have  said,  demands  a  pou  sto,  a 
starting  point.  The  people  of  the  world  will  have  a 
science  of  psychology  when  the  principles  of  the  Scrip- 
tures are  understood,  and  demonstrated  in  the  lives 
of  men. 

Is  it  possible  that  the  Scriptures  are  essentially  and 
profoundly  psychological?  Is  it  possible  that  this  is 
true,  and  that  science  has  failed  to  discover  it?  Herbert 
Spencer  in  his  work  on  Education:  Intellectual,  Moral, 
and  Physical,  tells  us  that  true  education  is  essentially 
psychological.  ^ 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    89 

The  true  education  [said  Spencer]  is  practicable  only  to  the 
true  philosopher.  Judge,  then,  what  prospect  a  philosophi- 
cal method  now  has  of  being  acted  out !  Knowing  so  little 
as  we  yet  do  of  Psychology,  and  ignorant  as  our  teachers  are 
of  that  little,  what  chance  has  a  system  which  requires 
Psychology  for  its  basis?  .  .  .  Education  must  conform  to 
the  natural  processes  of  mental  evolution.  ...  A  nebulous 
perception  of  it  now  prevails  among  teachers;  and  it  is  daily 
more  insisted  on  in  educational  work.  "The  method  of 
nature  is  the  archetype  of  all  methods, "  says  M.  Marcel. 

In  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  Abram  is  again 
told  of  his  inheritance;  he  is  told  in  a  most  precise  and 
specific  way.  The  ultimate  and  abiding  inheritance 
here  and  elsewhere  described  in  the  Scriptures  is  not  an 
earthly  possession.  It  is  represented  in  that  wealth 
and  splendor  of  soul  that  gives  rest  and  peace,  that 
brings  man  face  to  face  with  God,  that  makes  him 
conscious  of  the  Divine  Presence.  "Fear  not,  Abram; 
I  am  thy  shield,  and  thy  exceeding  great  reward" 
(Gen.  15:  i).  "The  Lord  is  Man's  inheritance,  accord- 
ing as  the  Lord  thy  God  promised  him"  (Deut.  10:9). 
"For  the  Lord's  portion  is  his  people;  Jacob  is  the  lot 
of  his  inheritance"  (Deut.  32:  9).  The  just  inherit 
God;  and  God  inherits  the  just.  "I  lead  in  the  way  of 
righteousness,  that  I  may  cause  those  that  love  Me  to 
inherit  substance"  (Prov.  8:  21).  This  reciprocity  of 
inheritance  is  glorious;  it  proclaims  the  Fatherhood  of 
God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  What  could  be  more 
suggestive  of  human  immortality  than  this?  How  can 
man  know  that  it  is  possible  for  him  to  inherit  the 
power  and  glory  of  heaven? 

"And  Abraham  said,  Lord  God,  whereby  shall  I 
know  that  I  shall  inherit  it?  And  He  said  unto  him, 
Take  Me  an  heifer  three  years  old,  and  a  she-goat  three 


90  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

years  old,  and  a  ram  three  years  old,  and  a  turtle-dove, 
and  a  young  pigeon."  The  human  soul,  the  living, 
moving,  abiding  entity,  with  or  without  its  mask  of 
flesh,  is  revealed  in  three  principles,  prefigured  by  the 
ram,  the  heifer,  and  the  goat.  When  Abram,  cooperat- 
ing with  his  Maker,  has  destroyed  his  five  rebellious 
kings,  and  attained  to  the  marriage  feast  of  Cana,  when 
the  principles  that  inhere  in  his  soul  are  in  a  state  of 
unity,  then  is  he  conscious  that  God  is,  and  what  man 
is,  then  is  he  conscious  of  his  abiding  inheritance.  The 
condition  of  Israel's  possession  of  the  promised  land, 
of  his  inheritance,  was  character.  "That  which  is  al- 
together just  shalt  thou  follow,  that  thou  mayst  live 
and  inherit  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth 
thee"  (Deut.  16:20;  Num.  32:  n). 

(i)  The  ram  three  years  old  represents  the  head, 
the  seat  of  reason.  Reason  is  assertive,  initiative,  and 
constructive.  The  head  is  the  seat  of  the  masculine 
powers  of  the  human  soul.  The  ram  leads  and  defends 
the  flock;  he  represents  the  sign  Aries.  Abram's  ram 
is  without  blemish;  he  is  three  years  old.  Three  as 
here  used  indicates  perfection.  (2)  The  heifer  is  the 
symbol  of  the  heart,  the  life  center,  the  seat  of  the 
affections  and  the  emotions.  The  heart  is  essentially 
feminine.  The  heifer  is  three  years  old ;  Abram  is  pure 
in  heart.  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall 
see  God."  (3)  The  she-goat  is  the  symbol  of  the 
lower  principles  of  the  human  soul,  the  seat  of  the 
carnal  appetites.  The  goat  is  three  years  old ;  the  lower 
principle  of  the  soul  is,  therefore,  in  a  state  of  perfect 
subserviency  to  the  head  and  heart. 

"And  Abram  took  unto  him  all  these  (the  animals 
and  the  birds),  and  divided  them  in  the  midst,  and  laid 
each  piece  one  against  another:  but  the  birds  divided 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    91 

he  not."  The  animals  represent  the  respective  prin- 
ciples of  the  human  soul;  and  Abram  is  represented  as 
placing  these  in  their  right  order.  Plato  in  his  dialogue, 
The  Republic,  says  that  when  man  has  bound  together 
the  three  principles  within  him,  which  may  be  compared 
to  the  higher,  the  lower,  and  the  middle  of  the  scale  (of 
music),  and  the  intermediate  intervals — when  he  has 
bound  together  all  these,  and  is  no  longer  many,  but 
has  become  one  entirely  temperate  and  perfectly  ad- 
justed nature,  then  he  will  begin  to  act  wisely  and 
justly. 

A  thing  composed  of  parts  approaches  perfection  in 
just  the  degree  that  its  several  parts  are  perfect.  The 
soul's  perfection,  as  Plato  has  said,  is  represented  in  the 
unity  and  harmony  of  its  principles.  Abram  "laid  each 
piece  one  against  another."  When  Abram  abandoned 
Haran,  when  he  went  out  of  his  country,  and  from  his 
kindred,  and  from  his  father's  house,  he  pitched  his 
tent,  having  Bethel  on  the  west,  and  Hai  on  the  east: 
and  there  he  built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  called 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  (Gen.  12:  8).  Bethel  means 
the  House  of  God,  and  Hai,  a  heap  of  ruins.  Since  the 
Scriptures  often  speak  of  the  body,  or  the  soul  of  man 
as  the  house  of  God,  it  follows  that  Hai  represents  the 
soul  of  man  in  a  state  of  confusion  and  disorder,  and 
Bethel  the  soul  in  a  state  of  unity  and  harmony. 

"But  the  birds  divided  he  not. "  Birds  are  a  symbol 
of  the  formless.  They  represent  the  mental,  the  spirit- 
ual. The  fowls  that  come  down  upon  the  carcasses 
represent,  it  would  seem,  carnal  mind,  human  mental- 
ity at  its  nadir;  but  it  is  written  that  "Abram  drove 
the  fowls  away";  he  lived  superior  to  the  carnal, 
sensuous  state  of  man.  The  young  pigeon  is,  we  believe, 
the  symbol  of  Reason ;  and  the  turtle-dove  of  the  Holy 


92  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Spirit;  and  thus,  the  fowls,  the  young  pigeon,  and  the 
turtle-dove  represent  ascending  degrees  of  conscious- 
ness. Emerson  in  his  essay  on  History,  says:  "There  is 
One  Mind  common  to  all  individual  men.  ...  Of  the 
Universal  Mind  each  individual  man  is  one  more 
incarnation.  All  Its  properties  consist  in  him."  The 
body  of  man  is  susceptible  of  division  into  parts,  and  the 
soul  may  be  contemplated  in  the  light  of  its  principles, 
but  Mentality  is  One.  It  is  indivisible.  "It  is  im- 
possible that  the  essence  which  reasons  within  us," 
said  Pascal,  "should  be  other  than  Spiritual."  He  that 
is  faithful  to  the  Light  that  God  hath  put  into  his  soul 
shall  have  it  enlarged  unto  wisdom,  but  he  that  puts 
his  Light  to  a  false  and  wicked  use  is  destined  to  lose  it. 
This  is  taught  in  the  parable  of  the  talents;  he  that 
makes  a  false  use  of  the  mentality  God  has  given  him  is 
"the  unprofitable  servant  who  is  cast  into  outer  dark- 
ness" (Matt.  25:  30).  What  do  we  understand  by 
Christ,  or  Israel?  What  do  these  names  represent? 
They  represent  mentality  lifted  up,  mind  free  from  all 
earthly  contamination,  "mind,"  as  Plato  said,  "true 
and  free  and  in  harmony  with  nature. "  "  When  ye  have 
lifted  up  the  son  of  man,  then  shall  ye  know  that  I  am 
he,  and  that  I  do  nothing  of  myself"  (John  8:  28). 
When  your  mind  is  lifted  up  above  the  things  of  the 
sensuous  world,  then  is  Christ  "formed  in  you"  (Gal. 
4:  19). 

The  birds,  the  turtle-dove,  and  the  young  pigeon, 
Abram  divided  not.  Carnal  mind,  mind  fallen,  is  still 
mind.  The  young  pigeon  represents  Reason,  mentality; 
the  turtle-dove  is  a  symbol  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "And 
the  Lord  God  took  the  Man,  and  put  him  into  the 
Garden  of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it"  (Gen.  2: 15). 
The  mind  is  the  man.  The  true  office  of  man  is  the 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    93 

perfection  and  preservation  of  the  soul.  When  the  soul 
is  made  perfect,  then  it  is  the  conscious  organ  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  which  the  dove  is  a  symbol  (Matt.  3:  16; 
John  i :  32).  When  man  has  overcome  the  world,  when 
"he  has  put  all  things  under  his  feet,  then  is  man 
himself  subject  unto  Him  that  put  all  things  under  him, 
that  God  may  be  all  in  all"  (i  Cor.  15:  27,  28).  When 
man  has  done  his  work,  when  his  soul  is  made  perfect, 
then  is  he  himself  assimilated  to  the  Holy  Spirit. 

In  ancient  times,  it  seems  that  precepts  and  princi- 
ples for  the  guidance  of  mankind  were  taught  almost 
exclusively  in  symbols,  allegories,  and  parables.  Why 
was  sign  language  adopted  in  the  writing  and  teaching 
of  the  Scripture?  The  reasons  are  certainly  apparent 
and  conclusive.  In  ancient  times  and  even  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  it  was  worth  one's  life  to  affirm  doctrines 
that  were  contrary  to  the  accepted  beliefs  of  the  priestly 
and  governing  classes.  It  is  said  that  the  great  dis- 
covery of  Copernicus,  to  wit:  that  the  earth  moves 
around  the  sun,  was  not  published  to  the  world  until 
after  his  death.  "Why  speakest  thou  to  the  people  in 
parables?  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  his  disciples, 
Because  it  is  given  unto  you  to  know  the  mysteries  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  but  unto  them  it  is  not  so 
given"  (Matt.  13:  10,  11).  To  the  pure  in  heart  it  is 
given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
but  to  the  sensuous,  conceited,  and  animalized,  any 
attempted  explanation  of  spiritual  things  meets  with 
ridicule,  mockery,  even  with  violence.  If  we  live  in 
Egypt,  or  Sodom,  we  are  expected  to  conform  to  their 
sensuous  customs  and  habits,  or  stand  condemned. 
"Lo,  shall  we  sacrifice  the  abomination  of  the  Egyp- 
tians before  their  eyes,  and  will  they  not  stone  us?" 
(Ex.  8:  26).  Moreover,  if  the  truth  had  been  told  by 


94  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  prophets  of  old  in  the  plainest  and  simplest  language 
it  is  quite  probable  that,  bigoted  and  conceited  men, 
in  order  to  justify  their  prejudices  and  preconceived 
opinions,  would  have  translated  the  Scriptures  in  such  a 
way  as  to  destroy  their  true  and  inward  meaning;  but 
since  the  Scriptures  were  taught  and  written  in  a  sign 
language  their  perversion  was  made  most  difficult. 

In  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  Genesis  it  is  written  that 
Sarai,  Abram's  wife,  took  Hagar,  her  Egyptian  maid, 
and  gave  her  to  Abram  to  be  his  wife,  and  that  Hagar 
bear  Abram  a  son,  and  that  Abram  called  his  son's 
name  Ishmael.  Ishmael  is  the  son  of  an  Egyptian 
woman.  He  is  the  type  of  the  primitive  man,  of  man 
in  the  Gentile  state.  "His  hand  is  against  every  man, 
and  every  man's  hand  is  against  him."  In  the  seven- 
teenth chapter  is  an  account  of  the  predicted  birth  of 
Isaac.  He  is  the  son  of  Sarah,  the  free  woman.  It  will 
be  observed  that  Isaac  is  born  after  Abram's  name  is 
changed  to  Abraham,  and  Sarai's  name  to  Sarah.  Isaac 
is  born  of  regenerate  parents.  Paul  says  that  "He  who 
was  of  the  bondwoman  was  born  of  the  flesh ;  but  he  of 
the  free  woman  was  by  promise.  Which  things  are  an 
allegory"  (Gal.  4:  23,  24).  The  bondwoman  and  her 
son  represent  a  heart  and  mind  that  are  set  upon  the 
things  of  the  world;  the  free  woman  and  her  son  repre- 
sent a  heart  and  mind  superior  to  the  things  of  the 
world. 

"And  Sarai  said  unto  Abram,  It  may  be  that  I  may 
obtain  children  by  Hagar"  (Gen.  16:  2).  How  is  Sarai 
to  obtain  children  by  Hagar?  By  what  natural  or 
evolutionary  process  does  Sarai  become  the  mother  of 
the  children  of  Hagar?  Sarai's  name  is  changed  to 
Sarah,  the  Princess,  the  universal  mother,  "the  mother 
of  nations,"  Sarah  is  the  mother  of  the  two  nations 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    95 

into  which  all  mankind  are  divided,  to  wit :  the  Gentiles, 
and  the  Jews  or  Israelites.  These  two  nations  are 
represented  by  Cain  and  Abel,  and  by  Ishmael  and 
Isaac.  Isaac  is  born  of  regenerate  parents;  he  is  born 
after  his  parents  have  been  given  new  names  to  corre- 
spond to  their  new  and  perfected  characters ;  and  Abra- 
ham circumcised  Isaac  when  eight  days  old  "as  God 
had  commanded  him"  (Gen.  21:  4).  Children  born  of 
regenerate  parents  are  counted  for  the  seed.  "The 
children  of  the  promise  are  counted  for  the  seed"  (Rom. 
9:8).  Isaac,  born  of  regenerate  parents,  is  predisposed 
to  virtue  from  his  youth.  "Among  you  [the  regenerate] 
he  that  is  eight  days  old  shall  be  circumcised"  (Gen. 
17:  12).  Circumcision,  like  baptism  in  water,  is  a 
symbol  of  regeneration.  "Who  shall  forbid  water 
seeing  these  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as 
we?"  (Acts  10:  47).  "It  may  be  that  I  may  obtain 
children  by  Hagar."  When  does  Ishmael,  the  Gentile, 
the  child  of  the  flesh,  become  the  adopted  son  of  the 
regenerate  Sarah?  It  takes  place  when  he  attains  the 
age  of  discretion,  and  chooses  to  be  her  son.  "And 
Ishmael  was  thirteen  years  old,  when  he  was  circum- 
cised" (Gen.  17:  25). 

Abram's  name  is  changed  to  Abraham;  and  it  is 
written  that  God  established  "an  everlasting  covenant" 
with  him  (Gen.  17:  7).  This  is  the  covenant  that  God 
makes  with  all  the  just;  it  is  represented  in  the  soul's 
perfection.  Man's  covenant  with  God  is  represented 
in  his  consciousness  of  God's  Spirit,  and  his  fidelity  to 
God  and  man.  Abraham,  like  all  of  the  great,  is  a 
prophet.  "  Shall  I  hide  from  Abraham  that  thing  which 
I  do;  Seeing  that  he  shall  do  justice  and  judgment?" 
(Gen.  18:  17-19).  It  is  said  that  Abraham  entertained 
angels,  and  was  forewarned  of  the  destruction  of 


96  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Sodom.  He  entertains  angels  who  has  that  spiritual 
insight  by  which  he  reads  the  doom  of  a  sensuous  and 
wicked  people.  This  legend  is  true  to  human  nature. 
What  community,  tribe,  or  nation  of  people  was  ever 
decimated  or  destroyed  by  war,  famine,  or  pestilence 
without  being  forewarned  by  some  god-fearing  person? 
Moreover,  no  community,  tribe,  or  nation  of  people  was 
ever  destroyed  in  which  any  considerable  number  of 
righteous  people  dwelt.  "Where  there  is  no  vision  the 
people  perish;  but  he  that  keepeth  the  law,  happy  is 
he"  (Prov.  29:  18). 

In  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  Genesis  it  is  written 
that  Lot  sat  in  the  gate  of  Sodom  and  that  two  angels 
came  to  Sodom;  that  Lot  rose  up  to  meet  them,  and 
that  he  bowed  himself  down  before  them;  that  he 
urged  them  to  turn  in  and  tarry  all  night  in  his  house. 
"And  they  said,  Nay;  but  we  will  abide  in  the  street  all 
night.  And  Lot  pressed  them  greatly ;  and  they  turned 
unto  him,  and  entered  into  his  house ;  and  he  made  them 
a  feast. "  And  before  they  lay  down  the  men  of  Sodom, 
compassed  Lot's  house  about,  and  demanded  that  he 
should  bring  out  his  celestial  guests,  and  Lot  went  out 
unto  them,  and  offered  to  give  them  his  two  daughters. 
"But  the  angels  put  forth  their  hands,  and  pulled  Lot 
into  the  house  to  themselves,  and  shut  the  door.  And 
they  smote  the  men  that  were  at  the  door  of  the  house 
with  blindness,  both  small  and  great ;  so  that  they  wor- 
ried themselves  to  find  the  door. "  This  is  an  allegory; 
it  is  the  story  of  the  soul.  Lot  desires  to  lead  a  better 
life;  he  desires  to  set  his  mind  and  heart  upon  things 
above;  he  desires  to  entertain  celestial  visitors  in  his 
house,  in  the  depths  of  his  soul,  but  he  seems  powerless 
to  abandon  the  life  of  Sodom.  This  allegory  is  descrip- 
tive of  the  condition  of  every  unregenerate  human  soul. 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    97 

The  angels  represent  Lot's  desire  to  be  just  and  up- 
right before  God,  his  wife  and  his  daughters  represent 
his  heart,  and  the  debauched  affections  of  his  heart,  and 
the  men  of  Sodom  represent  his  unrestrained  carnal 
desires.  "  Lot  sits  at  the  gate  of  Sodom  ";  he  is  desirous 
to  abandon  the  life  of  Sodom,  but  his  house  is  com- 
passed about  by  the  men  of  Sodom,  his  carnal  desires 
are  forever  urging  him  to  abandon  his  house,  his  soul, 
the  temple  of  God.  He  that  goes  in  pursuit  of  the 
pleasures  of  the  world  abandons  and  defiles  the  house 
of  God.  "Ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  the  Spirit  of 
God  dwelleth  in  you.  If  any  man  defile  the  temple  of 
God,  him  shall  God  destroy"  (i  Cor.  3:  16,  17).  "And 
Lot  went  out,  and  spake  unto  his  sons-in-law,  which 
married  his  daughters,  and  said,  Up,  get  you  out  of  this 
place ;  for  the  Lord  will  destroy  this  city.  But  he  seemed 
as  one  that  mocked  unto  his  sons-in-law."  Lot's 
affections,  his  daughters,  that  are  wedded  to  the  Sodo- 
mites are  doomed.  The  angels,  the  divinity  within  the 
soul  of  Lot,  hastened  him  to  abandon  Sodom.  "Arise, 
take  thy  wife,  and  thy  two  daughters,  which  are  here; 
lest  thou  be  consumed  in  the  iniquity  of  the  city." 
And  yet  it  is  said  that  "he  lingered."  When  Lot,  his 
wife,  and  his  two  daughters  were  out  of  Sodom,  the 
command  is  given:  "Escape  for  thy  life;  look  not  behind 
thee,  neither  stay  thou  in  all  the  plain,  lest  thou  be 
consumed."  Abandon  Sodom;  "escape  for  thy  life." 
This  is  the  way  of  salvation ;  there  is  no  other. 

"But  Lot's  wife  looked  back  from  behind  him,  and 
she  became  a  pillar  of  salt. "  Lot's  heart  has  undergone 
a  great  change.  Salt  is  a  symbol  of  that  which  preserves ; 
it  is  a  symbol  of  virtue.  "Every  sacrifice  shall  be 
salted  with  salt.  ...  Have  salt  in  yourselves,  and 
have  peace  one  with  another"  (Mark,  9:  49,  50).  It 


98  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

would  be  difficult  to  conceive  a  greater  miracle,  than 
that  change  of  heart,  that  forever  attends  the  abandon- 
ment of  a  sensuous  life.  This  allegory  teaches  that 
every  rational  being  is  confronted  with  a  heaven- 
imposed  duty,  entirely  personal;  the  duty  of  making 
harmonious  and  just  the  soul,  the  house  of  God ;  and  he 
that  would  accomplish  progress  in  this  high  and  holy 
work  must  make  his  house  a  fit  abode  for  angels;  he 
must  escape  Sodom,  and  flee  to  the  little  city  of  Zoar. 
With  the  abandonment  of  Sodom  comes  the  ascent  of 
reason.  When  the  dawn  arose  the  angels  hurried  Lot; 
reason's  triumph  is  represented  in  the  abandonment  of 
the  sensuous  life.  "The  sun  was  risen  upon  the  earth 
when  Lot  entered  Zoar"  (Gen.  19:  23).  The  Sodomites 
are  smitten  with  blindness  that  they  cannot  find  the 
door  (Gen.  19:  n).  This  is  the  fate  of  the  carnally 
minded. 

It  is  written  that  Lot  went  up  out  of  Zoar,  and  dwelt 
in  the  mountain,  and  that  his  two  daughters  were  with 
him,  and  that  they  dwelt  in  a  cave;  and  when  he  was 
old  his  daughters  made  him  drink  wine,  and  that  each  of 
the  daughters  was  the  mother  of  a  son  begotten  of  their 
father;  and  the  son  of  one  was  called  Moab,  and  was  the 
father  of  the  Moabites,  and  the  son  of  the  other  was 
the  father  of  the  children  of  Ammon.  This  is  evidently 
an  ancient  myth  suggested  by  Lot's  life  in  the  cities  of 
the  plain.  "Lot  dwelled  in  the  cities  of  the  plain,  and 
pitched  his  tent  toward  Sodom"  (Gen.  13:  12).  A 
large  portion  of  the  people  composing  these  ancient 
tribes  lived  in  the  low  lands,  or  plain  of  the  Jordan. 
This  low  land  was  called  the  "plains  of  Moab"  (Num. 
22:1;  26:3;  Deut.  34:1).  The  resemblance  of  the 
people  composing  these  two  ancient  tribes  and  their 
habitat  may  have  given  rise  to  the  myth  that  they  were 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew    99 

descended  from  a  common  ancestor;  and  thus  Lot  be- 
comes the  eponym.  The  Scriptures  reveal  a  marked 
regard  for  psychological  accuracy,  but  in  matters  of 
history  they  disclose  an  indifference.  This  idea  is 
illustrated  in  the  story  of  Lot.  Lot's  life  from  a  psy- 
chological standpoint  is  instructive  and  edifying,  but 
from  an  historic  standpoint  it  is  low,  mythical,  and 
fabulous.  This  story  shows  the  indifference  with  which 
religion  contemplates  events  in  time.  "We  look  not  at 
the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are  not 
seen;  for  the  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal;  but 
the  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal"  (2  Cor.  4:18). 

In  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Genesis  it  is  said  that 
Abraham  journeyed  toward  the  south  and  sojourned  in 
Gerar.  The  name  Gerar  means  pilgrimage,  or  sojourn. 
Abraham,  like  all  the  great,  is  a  "stranger  and  so- 
journer"  on  the  earth  (Gen.  23:  4;  Heb.  n  :  13).  "And 
Abraham  said  of  Sarah  his  wife,  She  is  my  sister:  and 
Abimelech  King  of  Gerar  sent,  and  took  Sarah.  But 
God  came  to  Abimelech  in  a  dream  by  night,  and  said 
to  him,  Behold,  thou  art  but  a  dead  man,  for  the 
woman  thou  hast  taken  is  a  man's  wife."  He  that  is 
given  to  the  carnal  life  is,  in  contemplation  of  the 
Scriptures,  "a  dead  man. "  "The  living"  are  they  who 
have  abandoned  the  carnal  life.  "But  as  touching  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  [the  carnally  minded],  have 
ye  not  read  that  which  was  spoken  unto  you  by  God, 
saying,  .  .  .  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of 
the  living"  (Matt.  22: 31, 32). 

Abimelech  calls  Abraham  to  account  for  calling 
Sarah  his  sister,  and  then  Abraham  explains  to  Abime- 
lech that  what  he  said  is  true.  "And  Abimelech  said 
unto  Abraham,  What  sawest  thou,  that  thou  hast  done 
this  thing?  And  Abraham  said,  Because  I  thought, 


ioo  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Surely  the  fear  of  God  is  not  in  this  place;  and  they  will 
slay  me  for  my  wife's  sake.  And  yet  indeed  she  is  my 
sister;  she  is  the  daughter  of  my  Father,  but  not  the 
daughter  of  my  mother;  and  she  became  my  wife." 
The  fear  of  God  is  not  in  any  place  where  the  people 
are  sensuous  and  carnal;  the  carnally  minded  may 
pretend  to  be  religious,  but  in  truth  their  religion  is  a 
mockery;  they  are  dead  to  God.  "  God  is  the  God  of  the 
living,  and  not  of  the  dead. "  "  Indeed  she  is  my  sister; 
she  is  the  daughter  of  my  Father,  but  not  the  daughter 
ofjny  mother."  This  figure  of  speech  is  beautiful, 
sublime,  and  most  edifying.  It  affirms  the  Fatherhood 
of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  "Have  we  not 
all  One  Father?  Has  not  One  God  created  us  all?" 
(Mai.  2:  10).  "Call  no  man  your  father  upon  the 
earth;  for  One  is  your  Father,  which  is  in  heaven" 
(Matt.  23:9). 

"And  unto  Sarah  Abimelech  said,  Behold,  I  have 
given  thy  brother  a  thousand  pieces  of  silver;  behold, 
he  is  to  thee  a  covering  of  the  eyes,  unto  all  that  are 
with  thee,  and  with  all  other;  thus  she  was  reproved." 
Why  was  Abraham  a  covering  of  the  eyes  to  all  that 
knew  him?  God  is  apprehended  through  the  Mind's 
eye.  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall  see 
God."  When  the  eyes  are  covered,  when  the  eyes  are 
no  longer  enamored  of  the  things  of  the  sensuous  world, 
then  it  is  that  one  comes  to  realize  the  power  and  glory 
of  the  unseen.  "We  look  not  at  the  things  which  are 
seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen  "  (2  Cor.  4:18). 
Abraham,  like  all  the  great,  made  manifest  in  his  own 
life  the  power  and  glory  of  God  and  thus  sought  by 
life  and  word  to  turn  the  eyes  of  men  from  the  seen, 
to  the  contemplation  of  the  unseen.  Abraham  was  a 
covering  to  the  eyes  of  all  who  knew  him,  and  "thus 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew  101 

was  Sarah  reproved."  Abraham's  life  was,  and  is,  a 
reproof  to  all  whose  mental  vision  is  set  upon  outward 
things.  The  true  office  of  the  mind  is  the  improvement 
of  the  soul,  the  permanent,  the  abiding,  the  eternal. 
The  world  is  filled  with  "greedy  dogs  which  can  never 
have  enough.  They  all  look  to  their  own  way,  every 
one  for  his  gain."  (Isa.  56:  n).  Few  indeed  have 
covered  their  eyes,  few  indeed  have  turned  from  the 
pursuit  of  sensuous  pleasures  and  things,  and  sought  to 
look  inward,  and  to  know  something  of  the  nature  of 
the  human  soul ;  few  indeed,  like  Abraham  of  old,  have 
sought  to  make  their  souls  perfect  before  God  and  man. 
"For  it  is  said  there  came  a  voice  from  heaven  saying, 
'Man  know  thyself.'  Thus  the  proverb  is  still  true, 
1  Going  out  were  never  so  good,  but  staying  at  home  were 
better.'"  This  is  from  a  mysterious  anonymous  book, 
Theologia  Germanica,  that  emphasizes  the  importance 
of  self-knowledge. 

In  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  an  account  of 
the  birth  of  Isaac,  and  of  his  circumcision  when  eight 
days  old.  Seven,  like  the  number  three,  indicates  a 
period,  or  epoch,  wherein  a  work  is  accomplished, 
wherein  a  work  has  attained  to  fulfillment.  "Behold,  I 
cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures  to-day  and  to-morrow, 
and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  perfected"  (Luke  13:  32). 
The  eighth  day,  the  day  of  circumcision,  indicates 
the  commencement  of  a  new  period ;  it  indicates  the 
beginning  of  a  new  state.  Circumcision  on  the  eighth 
day  certifies  the  regeneration  of  the  parents,  and  pre- 
figures the  regeneration  of  the  child.  Isaac  is  the  child 
of  promise;  he  is  the  child  of  regenerate  parents;  he  is 
the  child  of  the  most  fit.  "Isaac  is  counted  for  the 
seed"  (Gen.  21:  12;  Rom.  9:  8).  The  children  of  the 
virtuous,  the  just,  the  pure  in  heart,  the  most  fit,  in  a 


102  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

word,  the  regenerate  are  the  seed  whereby  all  mankind 
are  to  be  reformed.  All  the  regenerate  are  Jews,  or 
Israelites,  according  to  the  Scriptures.  "He  is  a  Jew, 
which  is  one  inwardly ' '  (Rom.  2:29).  Salvation  is  of  the 
regenerate.  "Salvation  is  of  the  Jews"  (John  4:  22). 
The  regenerate  are  "a  peculiar  treasure  unto  God  above 
all  people"  (Ex.  19:  5).  The  regenerate  are  God's 
appointed  teachers.  "But  unto  the  wicked  God  saith, 
What  hast  thou  to  do  to  declare  my  statutes,  or  that 
thou  shouldst  take  my  covenant  in  thy  mouth?  See- 
ing thou  hatest  instruction,  and  casteth  my  words  be- 
hind thee"  (Ps.  50:  16;  Dan.  12: 10).  Every  sensualist 
"  casteth  the  words  of  God  behind  him. " 

"And  Sarah  saw  the  son  of  Hagar  the  Egyptian 
mocking.  Wherefore  she  said  unto  Abraham,  Cast  out 
the  bondwoman  and  her  son:  for  the  son  of  this  bond- 
woman shall  not  be  heir  with  my  son,  even  with  Isaac." 
The  bondwoman  and  her  son  represent  a  mind  and 
heart  set  upon  the  things  of  the  world ;  the  free  woman 
and  her  son,  the  regenerate  woman  and  her  son,  repre- 
sent a  mind  and  heart  divorced  from  the  spirit  of  the 
world.  Religion  is  founded  upon  the  idea  that  there  is 
a  Spiritual  Kingdom  that  transcends  the  animal  king- 
dom of  the  world;  and  they  that  would  inherit  the 
higher  kingdom,  must  live  above  the  spirit  of  the  animal 
world.  The  carnally  minded  man,  the  mocker,  whose 
hand  is  against  every  man  does  not  inherit  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  "Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit";  blessed  are 
they  that  are  depleted  of  the  spirit  of  the  world;  "for 
their  inheritance  is  the  Kingdom  of  heaven. ' '  "Ye  have 
mocked  at  the  counsel  of  the  poor  in  spirit,  because  he 
putteth  his  trust  in  the  Lord"  (Ps.  14:  6). 

"The  son  of  the  bondwoman  shall  not  be  heir  with 
my  son,  even  with  Isaac."  This  is  the  Law;  it  is  the 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew  103 

imperative  command  of  heaven.  None  but  the  just, 
none  but  the  regenerate,  none  but  they  who  have  cast 
out  the  bondwoman  and  her  son,  none  but  they  who 
live  above  the  spirit  of  the  world,  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Jesus  said  to  his  disciples:  "Because  ye  are 
not  of  the  world,  the  world  hateth  you"  (John  15:  19). 
John  Nelson,  John  Wesley's  faithful  friend,  when  told 
that  religion  might  interfere  with  his  business,  said: 
"I  told  them  I  had  reason  to  bless  God  that  ever  John 
Wesley  was  born,  for  by  hearing  him  I  was  made  sen- 
sible that  my  business  in  this  world  is  to  get  well  out  of 
it ;  and  as  for  my  trade,  health,  wisdom,  and  all  things 
in  this  world,  they  are  no  blessings  to  me,  any  further 
than  as  so  many  instruments  to  help  me,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  to  work  out  my  salvation." 

"And  Abraham  reproved  Abimelech  because  of  a 
well  of  water,  which  Abimelech's  servants  had  violently 
taken  away."  This  well  is  evidently  a  symbol  of 
knowledge.  It  seems  that  Abraham  digged  many  wells 
which  the  sensuous  Philistines  filled  with  earth  (Gen. 
26:  15,  1 8).  Abraham  presented  Abimelech  with  three 
varieties  of  gifts :  sheep,  and  oxen,  and  seven  ewe  lambs 
which  he  sent  by  themselves.  Three  and  seven  are 
numbers  that  ordinarily  mean  perfection  when  thus 
used.  Abraham  is  a  teacher,  a  master,  a  dispenser  of 
the  waters  of  life ;  his  life  is  an  illustration  of  the  way  of 
life.  He  is  a  type  of  the  perfect  man.  "  I  am  Almighty 
God;  walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect"  (Gen.  17:  i). 
When  Abimelech  asked  Abraham  why  he  sent  the  seven 
ewe  lambs  as  a  separate  offering,  Abraham  answered, 
"that  they  may  be  a  witness  unto  me,  that  I  have 
digged  this  well"  [that  I  am  a  teacher  of  truth,  that  I 
am  a  dispenser  of  the  waters  of  life].  The  seven  ewe 
lambs  are  a  symbol,  it  would  seem,  of  wisdom  and  of  a 


104  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

pure  heart;  and  they  also  suggest  the  good  offices  of 
friendship  and  peace.  There  is  no  abiding  peace  for 
man  aside  from  character.  The  best  possible  evidence 
that  one  has  digged  wells  of  knowledge  is  that  he  can 
freely,  charitably,  and  justly  dispense  the  waters  of  life 
to  all,  even  to  those  who  would  violently  take  them 
away,  or  fill  them  with  earth. 

"Abraham  called  the  place  Beersheba  [the  well  of 
the  oath];  because  there  they  sware  both  of  them." 
Abraham  and  Abimelech  take  the  oath  of  good  fellow- 
ship, of  peace,  at  the  well  of  knowledge;  they  mutually 
agree  to  deal  justly  with  each  other,  and  with  the 
descendants  of  each  other  (Gen.  21:  23,  24).  At  this 
well  mankind  enter  into  an  eternal  covenant,  a  cove- 
nant never  to  be  broken.  Abraham,  like  all  the  great, 
was  a  prince  of  peace.  "Blessed  are  the  peacemakers; 
for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God. "  William 
Ellery  Channing,  in  his  famous  lecture  on  the  godlike 
Fenelon,  said:  "The  word  which  Fenelon  has  most 
frequently  used  to  express  the  happiness  to  which  the 
mind  ascends  by  the  supreme  love  of  God,  is  'peace,' 
perhaps  the  most  expressive  which  language  affords. 
We  fear,  however,  that  its  full  import  is  not  always 
received. "  These  symbols  are  not  history,  though  they 
appear  in  the  garb  of  history.  They  are  essentially 
psychological ;  they  deal  with  principles.  History  deals 
with  events  in  time;  religion  with  the  unseen,  the  eternal. 

In  the  twenty-second  chapter  of  Genesis  it  is  written 
that  God  did  tempt  Abraham:  "And  he  said,  Take  now 
thy  son,  thine  only  son  Isaac,  whom  thou  lovest,  and 
get  thee  into  the  land  of  Moriah  [the  land  that  Jehovah 
has  provided,  or  chosen  for  the  just];  and  offer  him 
there  for  a  burnt  offering  upon  one  of  the  mountains 
which  I  will  tell  thee  of."  It  appears  that  Abraham 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew  105 

proceeded  promptly  to  execute  this  divine  command; 
for  it  is  said  that  he  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and 
saddled  his  ass,  and  took  two  young  men,  and  Isaac,  and 
wood  for  the  burnt  offering,  and  went  unto  the  place 
of  which  God  had  told  him.  The  domestic  ass  is  a 
faithful  and  patient  beast  of  burden,  and  is  a  symbol  of 
obedience  and  service ;  on  the  contrary,  the  horse  is  the 
symbol  of  war,  and  pomp,  and  unrestraint ;  and  thus  it 
is  that  the  man  of  God  is  represented  as  riding  upon  an 
ass  (Zech.  9:9);  and  the  man  of  war  upon  a  horse  (Isa. 

3i:i). 

The  story  of  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac  is  the  story  of  the 
sacrifice  that  every  human  being  must  make  who  would 
attain  to  the  land  of  Moriah,  the  land  of  rest  and  peace. 
"The  land  of  Moriah"  is  a  symbolic  expression  de- 
scriptive of  a  high  and  holy  state  of  consciousness;  a 
state  immune  from  the  trouble  of  the  world.  "In  the 
world  ye  shall  have  tribulation:  but  be  of  good  cheer; 
I  have  overcome  the  world"  (John  16:33).  "Offer 
Isaac  for  a  burnt  offering."  "Thine  only  [legitimate] 
son,  whom  thou  lovest. "  The  Scriptures  would  have  us 
believe  that  Abraham  loved  Isaac  more  than  he  loved 
his  own  life.  The  sacrifice  of  Isaac  could  only  mean  the 
sacrifice  of  his  body ;  the  sacrifice  of  his  earthly  nature  ; 
his  soul  was  immune  from  the  ravages  of  fire.  "Offer 
[the  body  of]  Isaac  for  a  burnt  offering. "  What  does 
this  mean?  It  means  the  sacrifice  of  every  earthly 
consideration;  it  means  the  sacrifice  of  the  animal 
nature  of  man.  This  is  the  price,  the  condition  of  human 
salvation.  "Nor  will  I  offer  burnt  offerings  of  that 
which  doth  cost  me  nothing"  (2  Sam.  24:  24).  The 
proffered  sacrifice  of  Isaac  is  a  symbol  descriptive  of 
the  crowning  act  of  salvation,  to  wit :  the  overcoming  of 
the  world.  "Be  of  good  cheer;  I  have  overcome  the 


106  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

world. "    In  this  story,  Abraham  is  represented  as  rising 
to  the  very  zenith  of  human  greatness. 

God  draws  a  cloud  over  each  gleaming  morn. 

Would  we  ask  why? 
It  is  because  all  noble  things  are  born 

In  agony. 
Only  upon  some  cross  of  pain  or  woe 

God's  son  may  lie; 
Each  soul  redeemed  from  self  and  sin  must  know 

Its  Calvary. 

Frances  Power  Cobbe. 

"Then  on  the  third  day  Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes, 
and  saw  the  place  afar  off"  (Gen.  22:  4).  "Behold,  I 
cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures  to-day  and  to-morrow, 
and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  perfected"  (Luke  13:  32). 
Jesus,  it  seems,  referred  to  the  "third  day,"  as  "my 
day."  "Your  father  Abraham  saw  my  day,  and  re- 
joiced" (John  8:  56).  In  the  Scriptures,  Man's  sojourn 
upon  earth  is  often  spoken  of  as  "three  days. "  This  is 
illustrated  in  the  life  of  Moses.  Moses  was  forty  years 
in  Egypt,  this  was  his  first  day;  he  was  forty  years  in 
the  wilderness,  his  second  day;  and  his  resurrection 
from  the  dead  at  Horeb  marked  the  commencement  of 
the  "third  day"  of  his  life  on  earth.  They  who  are 
resurrected  from  the  dead,  while  living  in  the  world,  are 
destined  to  "bear  the  sins  of  many"  (Heb.  9:  28;  Isa. 
53:  n).  During  the  last  day,  the  third  day,  of  Moses' 
life  on  earth,  the  sins  of  Israel  were  laid  upon  him. 
"Thou  layest  the  burden  of  all  this  people  upon  me" 
(Num.  II :  II,  12).  This  is  the  fate  of  the  prophet 
(Ezek.  4: 4-6) ;  this  is  evidently  the  fate  of  all  who  have 
attained  to  the  third  day,  and  are  employed  in  the 
final  work  of  overcoming  the  world.  "I  have  glorified 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew   107 

thee  on  earth:  I  have  finished  the  work  which  thou 
gavest  me  to  do"  (John  17:  4).  "To  bear  our  sins"  is 
to  sustain  temptations.  They  alone  are  great  who  are 
able  to  withstand  any  and  all  temptations.  "Remem- 
ber how  God  tried  Abraham,  and  how  He  tried  Isaac, 
and  what  happened  to  Jacob;  for  he  hath  not  tried  us 
in  the  fire,  as  He  did  them"  (Judith  8:  26). 

On  the  "third  day,"  man  is  said  "to  put  away  sin  by 
the  sacrifice  of  himself"  (Heb.  9:  26).  The  story  of  the 
sacrifice  of  Isaac  is  the  story  of  Abraham's  great  tempta- 
tion. "It  is  appointed  unto  man  once  to  die  [to  the 
world],  but  after  this  the  judgment,"  the  crisis,  the 
great  temptation  (Heb.  9:  27).  They  who  have  at- 
tained to  the  third  day,  they  who  have  overcome  the 
world,  they  who  are  consciously  related  to  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  have  attained  to  "the  end  of  the  world"  (Heb. 
9:  26).  To  die  to  this  world,  to  die  to  the  animal 
kingdom,  is  to  be  born  into  the  spiritual  kingdom.  The 
son  of  man,  the  mind,  must  be  lifted  up,  if  he  would  see 
and  know  the  godlike  possibilities  of  man,  and  the 
glory  of  God's  Kingdom.  "Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
there  are  some  standing  here,  which  shall  not  taste  of 
death,  till  they  see  the  son  of  man  coming  in  his  king- 
dom" (Matt.  16:  28).  Jesus  is  here  represented  as 
addressing  his  disciples.  He  tells  them  how  foolish  and 
unprofitable  is  a  selfish,  worldly  life,  then  in  splendid 
Oriental  phrase,  he  describes  the  glory  that  attends 
him  who  is  consciously  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God 
(Matt.  16:  24-28). 

Jesus  made  himself  identical  with  the  spiritual 
kingdom,  which  transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  this 
world.  "He  said  unto  the  Jews:  Ye  are  from  beneath; 
I  am  from  above:  ye  are  of  this  world;  I  am  not  of  this 
world"  (John  8:  23).  Jesus  tells  the  Jews  that,  when 


io8  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

their  minds  are  lifted  up  above  the  things  of  the  sensu- 
ous world  and  are  related  to  the  higher  kingdom,  they 
will  then  know  the  truth  concerning  him.  "Then  said 
Jesus  unto  them,  When  ye  have  lifted  up  the  son  of  man 
[when  ye  have  lifted  up  your  own  minds],  then  shall 
ye  know  that  I  am  He,  and  that  I  do  nothing  of  myself; 
but  as  my  Father  hath  taught  me,  I  speak  these  things" 
(John  8 :  28).  They  who  are  related  to  the  Kingdom  of 
God  are  the  conscious  organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  they 
are  taught  of  their  Father.  "Holy  men  of  God  spake 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost"  (2  Peter  1 : 21 ; 
Luke  1 :  70).  The  prophets  are  they  who  speak  in  God's 
name  (Dan.  9:  6;  2  Chron.  36:  15,  16;  Neh.  9:  30).  The 
Scriptures  unqualifiedly  teach  that  there  is  a  stage  in 
the  moral  progress  of  man,  when  he  is  entitled  to  speak, 
and  does  speak  in  God's  name;  or,  in  other  phrase, 
there  is  a  stage  in  the  evolution  of  the  soul  of  man  when 
the  Holy  Spirit  speaks  through  him.  "The  hour  is 
coming  when  all  who  are  in  the  graves  [when  all  who 
are  in  the  sensuous  state]  shall  hear  my  voice,  and  shall 
come  forth,  they  that  have  done  good  to  the  resurrec- 
tion of  life;  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the 
resurrection  of  damnation.  I  can  of  mine  own  self  do 
nothing:  as  I  hear  [as  I  am  led  of  the  Spirit],  I  judge,  and 
mine  own  judgment  is  just ;  because  I  seek  not  mine  own 
will,  but  the  will  of  the  Father  which  hath  sent  me" 
(John  5:  28-30).  The  damnation  that  man  suffers 
when  he  is  resurrected  out  of  a  state  of  carnality  and 
death  into  a  state  of  spirituality  and  life,  is  measured 
by  the  evil  that  he  has  done.  "But  ye  can  call  to 
remembrance  the  former  days,  in  which,  after  ye  were 
illumined,  ye  endured  great  and  divers  afflictions" 
(Heb.  10:32). 

"And  Abraham  took  the  wood  of  the  burnt  offering, 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew  109 

and  laid  it  upon  Isaac  his  son;  and  he  took  the  fire  in 
his  hand,  and  a  knife;  and  they  went  both  of  them 
together.  And  Isaac  said,  Behold  the  fire  and  the  wood : 
but  where  is  the  lamb  for  a  burnt  offering?  And 
Abraham  said,  My  son,  God  will  provide  Himself  a 
lamb  for  a  burnt  offering ;  so  they  went  both  of  them 
together. "  The  wood  of  the  burnt  offering  is  laid  upon 
Isaac.  What  does  the  wood  represent?  It  represents 
the  sacrifice  that  man  must  make  would  he  attain  to 
the  Kingdom  of  God;  it  represents  his  animal  and 
worldly  nature.  The  animal  nature  of  man,  like  the 
wood  that  is  laid  upon  the  altar,  is  doomed  to  sacrifice. 
Man  is  not  consciously  related  to  the  higher  kingdom 
till  he  has  sacrificed  the  lower.  All  evil  in  man  is 
traceable  to  his  animal  nature.  The  iniquities  of  Israel 
were  laid  upon  the  head  of  a  goat-,  a  symbol  descriptive 
of  the  carnal  nature  of  the  soul  of  unregenerate  man. 
These  symbols  are  true  to  human  nature;  they  are 
scientific.  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world;  if  my 
kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants 
fight  "(John  18:36). 

"And  Abraham  took  the  fire  in  his  hand,  and  a 
knife. "  The  fire  in  Abraham's  hand  is  a  symbol  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  of  that  which  purifies,  and  chastens,  and 
disciplines.  The  soul  of  man,  the  daughter  of  Zion,  is 
purged  of  its  filth  "by  the  spirit  of  judgment,  and  by  the 
spirit  of  burning"  (Isa.  4:4).  It  would  seem  that  the 
knife  in  Abraham's  hand  is  a  symbol  of  justice.  A 
knife  or  a  sword,  in  the  hand  of  a  master,  is  a  symbol 
of  heaven's  justice  and  judgment.  "  I  come  not  to  send 
peace,  but  a  sword"  (Matt.  10:  34).  Abraham,  like 
all  the  great,  has  attained  to  "the  third  day,"  the  day 
of  judgment.  "It  is  appointed  unto  man  once  to  die 
[to  the  world],  but  after  this  the  judgment,"  the  crisis 


no  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

or  great  temptation  (Heb.  9:  27).  They  who  have 
attained  to  the  third  day,  they  who  are  resurrected 
from  the  dead,  are  masters.  They  belong  to  "an  un- 
changeable priesthood,"  a  priesthood  "after  the  order 
of  Melchisedec"  (Heb.  7:  n,  24;  Gen.  14:  18,  19). 
The  masters  are  they  who  are  led  and  taught  of  God; 
and  thus  they  are  said  to  "live  in  His  sight."  "After 
two  days  will  he  revive  us;  in  the  third  day  He  will 
raise  us  up,  and  we  shall  live  in  His  sight"  (Hosea  6:2). 
They  who  have  died  to  the  world ;  they  whom  God  hath 
revived;  they  who  have  attained  to  the  "third  day," 
are  the  teachers  and  masters  of  mankind;  they  are  the 
religious  teachers  "both  of  the  dead  and  the  living" 
(Rom.  14:  9).  The  wood,  the  fire,  the  knife,  and  the 
lamb  are  the  insignia  of  the  master.  The  faithful 
disciple  must  needs  follow  his  master  bearing  the 
sacrificial  fuel.  "And  whosoever  doth  not  bear  his 
cross,  and  come  after  me,  cannot  be  my  disciple" 
(Luke  14:27,  33).  "So  they  went  both  of  them  to- 
gether." 

"And  Abraham  said,  My  son,  God  will  provide 
Himself  a  lamb  for  a  burnt  offering;  so  they  went  both 
of  them  together."  The  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the 
Lamb,  Love  and  Truth,  Life  and  Light :  these  are  One. 
They  do  not  imply  a  divided  homage.  God  alone  is 
the  true  object  of  human  worship;  but  it  is  impossible 
that  man  should  honor  God  without  honoring  his  own 
mentality.  "He  that  honoreth  not  the  son  [his  own 
mind],  honoreth  not  the  Father  which  hath  sent  him" 
(John  5:  23).  When  man  is  faithful  to  the  Light  that 
God  has  given  him,  it  is  impossible  that  he  should  be 
unfaithful  to  God  or  man.  This  is  beautifully  phrased 
in  the  blessing,  the  farewell  benediction  of  Polonius  to 
his  son  Laertes: 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew  1 1 1 

This  above  all — to  thine  own  self  be  true; 
And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man. 

It  is  written  that  when  Abraham  was  in  the  act  of 
sacrificing  Isaac,  that  he  was  commanded  to  desist. 
" Lay  not  thine  hand  upon  the  lad;  for  now  I  know  that 
thou  fearest  God.  .  .  .  And  Abraham  lifted  up  his 
eyes,  and  looked,  and  behold  behind  him  a  ram  caught 
in  a  thicket  by  his  horns:  And  Abraham  went  and  took 
the  ram,  and  offered  him  for  a  burnt  offering  in  the 
stead  of  his  son. "  The  ram,  or  the  lamb,  is  the  symbol 
of  mentality.  "Your  lamb  shall  be  without  blemish,  a 
male  of  the  first  year"  (Ex.  12:  5;  I  Peter  i:  19). 
"Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world"  (John  i:  29).  Behold,  a  man  who  has 
attained  to  the  "third  day."  Behold,  a  Mind  that  is 
lifted  above  the  things  of  the  sensuous  world.  Behold,  a 
Man,  a  Mind,  which  sacrifices  every  earthly  considera- 
tion in  the  cause  of  truth  and  justice  and  human  salva- 
tion. Behold,  the  righteous  servant  of  God  who  shall 
bear  the  iniquities,  "the  sins  of  many"  (Heb.  9:  28; 
Isa.  53 : 1 1 ;  Num.  1 1 : 1 1 ;  Ezek.  4:6). 

"And  Abraham  said,  My  son,  God  will  provide 
Himself  a  lamb  for  a  burnt  offering;  so  they  went  both 
of  them  together."  The  mind,  according  to  the  sym- 
bolism of  the  Scriptures,  is  masculine,  as  the  heart  is 
feminine.  The  burnt  offering  is  a  male  without  blemish 
(Lev.  1:3).  The  lambs  of  God,  the  saviors  of  mankind 
who  sacrifice  all  worldly  things  in  the  cause  of  truth  and 
justice,  are  lambs  without  blemish.  The  Lambs  of  God 
are  they  who  "have  suffered  in  the  flesh  [and  have 
overcome  the  world]  and  have  ceased  from  sin"  (i 
Peter  4:1).  They  come  bearing  the  knife,  the  sword, 


ii2  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  heaven's  unerring  justice ;  they  make  no  compromise 
with  evil.  They  "cast  fire  upon  the  earth"  (Luke 
12:  49);  they  "set  men  at  variance"  (Matt.  10:35). 
They  that  have  attained  to  "the  third  day,"  they  who 
have  overcome  the  world,  are  prophets  all.  Abraham, 
like  all  the  great,  is  a  prophet  (Gen.  20:  7). 

"So  they  went  both  of  them  together."  The  story 
of  Abraham  and  Isaac,  as  told  in  the  twenty-second 
chapter  of  Genesis,  is  the  story  of  the  Master  and  His 
disciple.  The  Master  leads  the  way;  He  ascends  the 
mount  of  salvation  with  the  knife  and  the  fire;  he 
represents  the  justice  and  judgment  of  heaven;  and 
His  disciple  attends  him  bearing  the  sacrificial  fuel. 
"Whosoever  he  be  of  you  that  forsaketh  not  all 
that  he  hath,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple"  (Luke  14: 
33).  This  story  is  true  to  human  nature.  Man 
does  not  willingly  and  of  his  own  volition  forsake 
the  things  of  the  world.  Some  impulsion,  word,  or 
circumstance;  something  that  impels,  is  necessary  to 
lead  man  to  forsake  the  world ;  for  it  is  said  that  Abra- 
ham "bound  Isaac  his  son,  and  laid  him  on  the  altar 
upon  the  wood";  and  it  is  also  written  that  the  ram 
that  Abraham  offered  up  for  a  burnt  offering  in  the 
stead  of  his  son  was  "caught  in  a  thicket  by  his  horns " ; 
and  thus  reason,  represented  by  the  ram,  is  silent  and 
resisting  the  sacrifice.  It  is  written,  that  Jesus  came 
upon  Simon  Peter  and  John  and  James,  fishermen, 
when  they  were  washing  their  nets;  and  that  he  said 
unto  Simon,  "Launch  out  into  the  deep,  and  let  down 
your  nets  for  a  draught."  It  is  said  that  they  caught 
a  multitude  of  fishes,  enough  to  fill  two  ships.  "When 
Simon  Peter  saw  it,  he  fell  down  at  Jesus'  knees,  saying, 
Depart  from  me;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord.  For 
he  was  astonished,  and  all  that  were  with  him,  at  the 


The  Story  of  Abraham,  the  Hebrew   113 

draught  of  the  fishes  which  they  had  taken.  And  so 
was  also  James,  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  which 
were  partners  with  Simon.  .  .  .  And  when  they  had 
brought  their  ships  to  land,  they  forsook  all,  and  followed 
him"  (Luke  5:  5-11). 

When  Jesus  said  unto  Simon,  "  Launch  out  into  the 
deep,  and  let  down  your  nets  for  a  draught,  Simon 
answering  said  unto  him,  Master,  we  have  toiled  all 
night,  and  have  taken  nothing;  nevertheless  at  thy  word 
I  will  let  down  the  net."  Simon  is  incredulous;  his 
faith  is  weak;  but  obedience  to  the  word  of  the  Master 
prostrates  and  humbles  him.  Men  are  slow  to  launch 
out  into  the  deep;  they  are  slow  to  make  sacrifices  for 
truth  and  justice;  they  hesitate  to  obey  the  Master; 
and  as  a  result  they  toil  in  darkness,  and  take  nothing, 
or,  at  most,  what  they  take  is  destined  to  perish,  and 
come  to  naught.  The  Master  is  he  that  stands  to 
sacrifice  every  earthly  consideration  in  the  cause  of 
truth  and  justice ;  the  Master  is  he  that  teaches  men  the 
way  of  perfection.  "I  am  the  Almighty  God,  walk 
before  Me,  and  be  thou  perfect." 

The  good  are  friends  of  God  and  man; 
The  truly  good  do  all  they  can. 
They  sacrifice  for  all  the  race; 
And  thus  they  win  the  higher  place. 

8 


CHAPTER   IV 

ISAAC.      THE  STORY    OF    THE    IDEAL    FATHER,   MOTHER, 
AND     CHILD 

"In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called"  (Rom.  9:  7). 

IN  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  is  written 
that  Abram's  name  is  changed  to  Abraham. 
"Neither  shall  thy  name  any  more  be  called  Abram, 
but  thy  name  shall  be  Abraham;  for  a  father  of  many 
nations  have  I  made  thee."  Sarai's  name  is  changed 
to  Sarah.  "I  will  bless  her,  and  she  shall  be  the 
mother  of  nations;  kings  of  people  shall  be  of  her." 
In  the  story  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  we  read  of  the 
ideal  and  regenerate  father  and  mother.  They  were 
disciplined  and  chastened;  they  were  made  perfect 
by  suffering;  they  came  out  of  Egypt;  "And  Abram 
went  out  of  Egypt,  he  and  his  wife"  (Gen.  13:1). 
They  abandoned  the  sensuous  life;  before  their  names 
were  changed  they  were  in  the  Gentile  state;  and  when 
they  became  Israelites  in  their  hearts  they  were  given 
new  names.  "That  which  is  natural  is  first;  and  after- 
wards that  which  is  spiritual."  Abram  had  a  son  by 
an  Egyptian  woman,  a  bondwoman,  whose  hand  was 
against  every  man.  The  son  of  the  natural  man  is  a 
Gentile;  and  is  born  into  the  world  "like  a  wild  ass's 
colt"  Qob  ii :  12). 

Abram  and  Sarai  were  faithful;  they  abandoned 
114 


The  Story  of  Isaac  115 

Egypt;  they  planted  themselves  vineyards;  they  culti- 
vated domestic  grapes,  and  suffered  no  wild  grapes  to 
grow  in  their  vineyards  (Isa.  5:  1-5).  In  a  word,  they 
cultivated  the  virtues,  and  prevailed  with  God.  They 
were  inspirational,  and  prophetic.  God  was  not  hid 
from  them.  "Shall  I  hide  from  Abraham  that  thing 
which  I  do?"  seeing  that  he  will  command  those  of 
his  household  "to  do  justice  and  judgment"  (Gen. 
18:17,  19).  Their  new  names  were  formed  out  of 
their  old  ones ;  the  natural  man  in  the  process  of  evolu- 
tion becomes  the  spiritual  man.  They  are  not  to  be 
remembered  by  what  they  were  in  their  primitive  state, 
but  by  what  they  were  in  their  regenerate  state.  ' '  They 
shall  no  more  be  remembered  by  their  [old]  names" 
(Hosea2:  17). 

"The  kings  of  people  shall  be  of  Sarah."  Why  is 
Sarah  called  the  mother  of  kings?  She  is  resurrected 
from  the  dead;  she  has  attained  to  great  perfection  of 
character.  She  is  the  mother  of  the  regenerate,  of  a 
royal  race.  She  is  the  ideal  mother;  she  is  the  mother 
of  them  who  are  fit  to  rule.  ' '  Behold,  thy  King  cometh 
unto  thee;  he  is  just  and  lowly;  and  he  points  the  way 
of  salvation;  and  cometh  riding  upon  an  ass"  (Zech. 
9:9).  They  who  have  attained  to  self-mastery;  they 
who  are  just  in  mind  and  in  heart  are  the  kings  of 
Israel.  "We  have  heard  that  the  kings  of  the  house 
of  Israel  are  merciful  kings"  (i  Kings  20:  31).  Joseph 
"ruled  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt."  The  people  said 
of  Abraham:  "Thou  art  a  king  from  God  among  us" 
(Gen.  23:  6).  "Where  is  he  that  is  born  King  of  the 
Jews?"  (Matt.  2:2). 

He  who  feeds  men  serveth  few, 
He  serveth  all  who  dare  be  true. 

EMERSON. 


n6  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Abraham  is  the  father  of  two  races,  two  nations: 
Ishmael  represents  the  Gentiles,  the  first  in  time;  and 
Isaac,  the  Israelites,  the  last  born  in  time,  but  the 
first-born  in  power.  "For  they  are  not  all  Israelites, 
which  are  of  Israel :  Neither  because  they  are  the  seed 
of  Abraham,  are  they  all  children:  but  in  Isaac  shall 
thy  seed  be  called"  (Rom.  9:6,  7).  The  legitimate 
children  of  Abraham  are  not  represented  in  the  fierce 
and  rebellious  Ishmael,  but  in  those  who  have  fled  the 
carnal  life,  in  those  who  have  abandoned  the  Egyptian 
life,  in  those  who  live  the  calm  and  peaceful  life  of 
the  meditative  Isaac.  "In  Isaac  shall  Abraham's  seed 
be  called."  The  things  that  are  said  to  have  happened 
to  Abraham,  like  the  things  which  are  told  of  this 
or  that  patriarch,  or  prophet,  are  not  given  as  mere 
matters  of  history,  but  they  are  given  in  fact  to  illus- 
trate principles.  "All  these  things  happened  unto 
them  for  types,  and  they  are  written  for  our  admoni- 
tion by  those  who  have  attained  to  the  end  of  the 
world,"  who  have  overcome  the  world  (i  Cor.  10:  n). 
Abraham  prays  for  the  redemption  of  his  first-born  son. 
"And  Abraham  said  unto  God,  O  that  Ishmael  might 
live  before  Thee"  (Gen.  17:18).  According  to  the 
Scriptures,  every  unregenerate  person,  though  born  a 
Jew,  is  a  Gentile;  and  every  regenerate  person,  though 
born  a  Gentile,  is  an  Israelite.  "  He  is  a  Jew  who  is  one 
inwardly"  (Rom.  2:  29). 

"For  it  is  written,  that  Abraham  had  two  sons, 
one  by  a  bondmaid,  the  other  by  a  free  woman.  But 
he  who  was  of  the  bondwoman  [an  Egyptian]  was 
born  after  the  flesh;  but  he  of  the  free  woman  was  by 
promise"  (Gal.  4:22,  23).  He  who  is  born  after  the 
flesh  is  an  Egyptian;  but  he  who  is  born  of  the  spirit 
is  an  Israelite.  Ishmael  represents  the  Egyptian 


The  Story  of  Isaac  117 

state  of  consciousness,  the  primitive  state  of  man. 
"I  will  send  thee  far  hence  to  the  Gentiles"  (Acts  22: 
21).  "Israel  is  a  people  near  unto  God"  (Ps.  148: 14). 
The  Israelite,  the  Jew,  or  the  Hebrew  is  the  name  of 
him  who  has  fled  Egypt,  and  lives  in  the  promised  land; 
he  is  one  who  is  born  of  a  free  woman ;  and  lives  in  the 
land  of  freedom;  and  because  of  his  regeneracy  he  is 
"near  unto  God."  "For  indeed  I  was  stolen  away 
[says  Joseph]  out  of  the  land  of  the  Hebrews :  and  here 
also  have  I  done  nothing  that  should  put  me  into  the 
dungeon"  (Gen.  40: 15).  Joseph  was  not  hopeless  in 
bondage,  because  he  knew  the  "way  out."  The  bond- 
age that  constitutes  one  an  Egyptian  is  the  bondage  of 
the  soul;  it  is  the  bondage  that  comes  of  carnality. 
Joseph  attained  to  great  perfection  of  life;  he  was  a 
master  in  Israel;  though  he  lived  in  Egypt,  he  was 
superior  to  the  sensuous  and  carnal  life  of  its  people; 
he  was  a  "ruler  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt"  (Gen.  41 : 
43).  The  regenerate  are  they  who  live  superior  to  the 
sensuous  spirit  of  the  world;  "they  rule  over  all  the 
land  of  Egypt." 

Is  the  moral  development  of  man  fortuitous,  capri- 
cious, accidental?  Is  the  evolution  of  the  human 
soul,  the  most  important  thing  under  Heaven,  uncon- 
trolled by  fixed  principles?  Are  the  marvelous  alle- 
gories and  parables  associated  with  the  lives  of  the 
patriarchs  and  prophets  mere  matters  of  history? 
It  is  submitted  that  the  Scriptures  announce  principles. 
Therefore,  let  the  moralist  disengage  them  from  the 
passing,  the  local,  and  the  temporary;  and  point  out 
the  universal  and  the  eternal.  The  aim  and  end  of 
Science  is  the  discovery  of  principles.  Is  there  an 
orderly  sequence?  What  is  the  Law?  Science  teaches 
that  the  processes  of  nature  are  orderly;  and  flays 


n8  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

without  mercy  any  teacher  or  institution  which  affirms 
the  contrary.  Science  is  the  avowed  enemy  of  the 
fortuitous  and  arbitrary.  Science  is  revealed  in  orderly 
knowledge ;  and  such  knowledge  is  necessarily  grounded 
in  principles.  Man's  regeneration  is  psychological  be- 
cause it  has  to  do  with  the  soul's  evolution.  Since 
all  human  souls  are  made  after  the  same  divine  pattern, 
"the  pattern  shown  Moses  on  the  mount,"  it  follows 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  nothing  is  sure  for  me,  or 
for  you,  except  that  which  is  equally  sure  for  every 
other  human  being.  Reason,  as  the  Greek  philoso- 
phers have  said,  demands  a  pou  sto,  a  settled  point, 
a  fixed  point  of  observation.  "O  my  God,  who  art 
always  the  same,  let  me  know  myself,  and  I  shall 
know  thee. ' '  This  is  said  to  have  been  a  favorite  saying 
of  St.  Augustine. 

All  who  are  enamored  of  the  pomp  and  splendor  of 
the  world,  and  live  the  carnal  life  are,  according  to 
the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  Gentiles,  Egyptians; 
they  are  so  denominated  because  they  are  sensuous  and 
materialistic;  and  not  because  they  belong  to  this 
or  that  nationality.  They  who  have  abandoned  the 
carnal  life,  the  virtuous  and  just,  are  in  contemplation 
of  the  Scriptures,  Hebrews,  Israelites,  or  Jews;  these 
names  are  synonymous  and  should  not  be  used  arbitra- 
rily. "  He  is  a  Jew  who  is  one  inwardly. "  "  Salvation 
is  of  the  Jews"  (John  4:  22).  "Who  are  Israelites;  to 
whom  pertaineth  the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and  the 
covenants,  and  the  giving  of  the  Law,  and  the  service 
of  God,  and  the  promises?"  (Rom.  9:4).  "I  have  set 
thee  to  be  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  shouldst 
be  for  salvation  to  the  ends  of  the  earth"  (Acts  13:  47; 
Isa.  49:6).  Man  is  the  organ  of  salvation  to  the 
extent  that  he  is  just.  To  the  extent  that  man  is  the 


The  Story  of  Isaac  119 

organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  possesses  within  himself 
an  explanation  of  what  he  sees;  and  is,  therefore,  ''a 
light  to  the  Gentiles." 

Professor  James,  called  the  "unchallenged  veteran 
leader  of  American  psychology  and  philosophy" 
defines  psychology  briefly:  "The  description  and  ex- 
planation of  the  states  of  consciousness  as  such." 
Abraham  and  Sarah  have  attained  to  a  high  degree  of 
moral  perfection ;  and  they  are  the  parents  of  a  son  who 
is  a  fit  representative  of  a  state  of  consciousness  trans- 
cending that  prefigured  in  Ishmael,  the  son  of  the 
bondwoman.  Frederick  W.  Robertson,  the  famous 
clergyman  of  Brighton,  when  describing  the  qualities 
that  inhere  in  the  poet  said:  "Every  great  poet  is  a 
double-natured  man;  with  the  feminine  and  manly 
powers  in  harmonious  union;  having  the  tact,  and 
sympathy,  and  the  intuition,  and  the  tenderness  of 
woman,  with  the  breadth  and  massiveness  of  the  manly 
intellect,  besides  the  calm  justice  which  is  almost  ex- 
clusively masculine." 

Sarah  acts  in  obedience  to  the  lordly  virtues  of 
Abraham.  "Sarah  obeyed  Abraham  calling  him 
lord"  (i  Peter  3:6);  and  in  turn  Abraham  is  to 
"hearken  to  the  voice  of  Sarah,  for  in  Isaac  shall  thy 
seed  be  called"  (Gen.  21:  12).  The  heart  is  the  life 
center.  "Eve  is  the  mother  of  all  life."  The  offices 
of  the  heart  are  quite  as  consequential  as  those  of  the 
head.  "For  in  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called."  This 
suggests  a  verse  from  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam,  which 
we  have  taken  the  liberty  slightly  to  change;  perhaps 
the  true  inward  meaning  of  Tennyson  is  not  changed 
at  all. 

Let  knowledge  grow  from  more  to  more; 
But  more  of  reverence  in  us  dwell. 


120  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

That  head  and  heart,  according  well, 
May  make  one  music  as  before, 
But  vaster. 

Religion  consists  not  in  a  professed  belief  in  this 
or  that  dogma,  but  in  greatness  of  mind  and  heart;  it 
is  represented  in  the  united  perfections  of  the  masculine 
and  the  feminine,  in  the  unity  of  the  hemispheres  of 
being.  The  feminine,  or  maternal,  in  human  character 
is  represented  in  calmness,  passivity,  and  receptivity; 
the  masculine,  or  the  paternal  in  activity,  invention, 
and  construction.  The  story  of  Isaac  teaches  that 
regenerate  parents  may  and  do  become  the  progenitors 
of  a  virtuous  lineage;  that  the  evolution  of  a  royal 
race  is  the  result  of  a  chaste  and  virtuous  parentage. 
That  like  begets  like.  The  Egyptians,  the  "children 
of  the  flesh  are  not  the  children  of  God"  (Rom.  9:8); 
they  do  not  know  God  because  they  are  carnally  minded. 
To  be  carnally  minded  is  to  be  in  a  state  of  death, 
but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace. 

Isaac  is  the  child  of  promise;  he  is  so  because  of 
the  superiority  of  his  parents.  His  predicted  birth  is 
a  source  of  unspeakable  joy  to  his  father  and  mother; 
and  his  advent  into  the  world  is  most  welcome.  His 
name  is  not  changed,  because  he  is  the  flower  of  virtue. 
"Thou  shalt  call  his  name  Isaac:  and  I  will  establish 
my  covenant  with  him,  and  with  his  seed  after  him." 
The  Spirit  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  the  lives  of  the 
just;  "I  will  establish  My  covenant  with  him."  What 
figure  could  more  perfectly  represent  the  consequences 
incident  to  the  paternal  and  maternal  relation?  Men 
and  women,  would  they  be  virtuous,  can  be  instruments 
of  righteousness  to  remote  generations,  and  friends 
of  God  and  man ;  but  with  the  abandonment  of  virtue, 


The  Story  of  Isaac  121 

they  can  and  do  become  the  instruments  of  prostitu- 
tion, sin,  and  death,  and  enemies  of  God  and  man. 
The  covenant  of  God  is  with  the  just.  Joseph  Cook 
in  a  Monday  lecture  in  Boston  said:  Extinction  is 
before  the  wicked.  ' '  God  puts  an  end  to  an  incorrigibly 
wicked  family  in  this  world."  "Blessed  are  the  meek: 
for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth"  (Matt.  5:5). 

The  story  of  Abraham,  and  of  Sarah,  and  of  Isaac  is 
the  story  of  the  ideal  father,  mother,  and  child.  Abra- 
ham and  Sarah  are  given  new  names  before  Isaac  is 
born;  they  are  regenerate;  they  are  related  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God;  therefore,  Isaac  is  the  child  of  pro- 
mise. "The  children  of  the  promise  are  counted  for 
the  seed"  (Rom.  9:8).  Isaac  is  the  perfect  child, 
the  child  without  blemish,  the  seed  of  the  royal  race; 
because  of  the  spiritual  attainment  of  his  parents,  he 
is  predisposed  to  virtue  from  his  earliest  childhood. 
"And  Abraham  circumcised  his  son  Isaac,  being  eight 
days  old."  Circumcision  in  its  inward  sense  certifies 
to  the  regeneracy  of  the  parents  and  prefigures  the 
regeneracy  of  the  child. 

"Ishmael  is  born  after  the  flesh";  he  is  born  before 
his  father's  name  is  changed ;  he  is  the  son  of  an  Egyp- 
tian woman,  of  a  bondwoman.  His  hand  is  against 
every  man;  he  is  a  Gentile;  but  on  reaching  the  age  of 
discretion,  he  chooses  to  become  an  Israelite.  "Ish- 
mael was  thirteen  years  old  when  he  was  circumcised; 
and  in  the  selfsame  day  was  Abraham  circumcised" 
(Gen.  17:26). 

"And  the  child  grew,  and  was  weaned:  and  Abraham 
made  a  great  feast  the  same  day  that  Isaac  was  weaned  " 
(Gen.  21 :  8).  Since  the  Scriptures  are  intended  to 
announce,  and  do  announce  principles,  we  believe  that 
the  language  just  quoted  is  intended  to  describe  a 


122  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

deep  truth  incident  to  human  nature.  This  conclusion 
would  seem  obvious  from  what  is  said  in  the  verses 
which  immediately  follow.  Sarah  saw  the  son  of 
Hagar,  the  Egyptian,  mocking.  She  said  unto  Abra- 
ham, Cast  out  the  bondwoman  and  her  son :  for  the  son 
of  this  bondwoman  shall  not  be  heir  with  my  son. 
Abraham  made  a  great  feast  not  because  Isaac  was 
weaned  from  his  mother's  breast,  but  for  the  reason 
that  the  mother  gives  to  the  soul  its  body  of  flesh  and 
blood.  The  heart  is  the  life  center.  "Eve  is  the 
mother  of  all  life."  It  is  the  mother  that  builds 
the  tabernacle,  the  house  of  life.  "The  Lord  make  the 
woman  that  is  come  into  thy  house  like  Rachel  and  like 
Leah,  which  two  did  build  the  house  of  Israel  "(Ruth 
4:11).  Good  and  holy  mothers  are  they  who  build 
the  houses  of  Israel.  What  a  glorious  and  godly  race 
of  people  would  be  upon  this  earth  were  men  and 
women  obedient  to  the  heaven  descended  ideals  of 
ancient  Israel. 

Nothing  can  be  more  potential  to  relate  men  and 
women  to  God,  the  source  of  all  life  and  truth  and  love 
and  beauty  and  wisdom  than  so  to  live  as  to  be  the 
parents  of  children  who  are  absolutely  without  blemish. 
Think  of  the  deaf,  and  dumb,  and  blind,  and  idiotic, 
and  misshapen  that  come  into  the  world  due  to  the 
prostitution  and  sin  of  men  and  women.  "Evil  is  evil 
because  it  is  unnatural."  God  is  apprehended  as  pure 
mentality.  Reason  is  spiritual;  therefore,  all  sinning 
is  against  God.  Joseph  when  tempted  of  Potiphar's 
wife  said:  "How  can  I  do  this  great  wickedness,  and 
sin  against  God?"  When  the  prophet  Nathan  tells 
David  to  his  face  that  he  has  been  guilty  of  gross 
infidelity,  David  confesses  his  guilt:  "I  have  sinned 
against  the  Lord."  The  Scriptures  tell  us  that  he 


The  Story  of  Isaac  123 

who  violates  chastity  shall  bring  upon  his  mind  and 
the  affections  of  his  heart  paralysis  and  death.  "If 
thou  restore  her  not,  know  that  thou  shalt  surely  die, 
thou,  and  all  that  are  thine"  (Gen.  20:  7).  The  mind 
and  the  feelings  and  affections  "are  all  that  are  thine." 
Let  men  and  women  beware  lest  they  eat  the  forbidden 
fruit.  "For  in  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou 
shalt  surely  die"  (Gen.  2:  17).  Nothing  can  be  truer 
to  human  nature,  than  the  allegory  of  Adam,  Eve, 
and  the  serpent;  Adam,  mind;  Eve,  the  heart,  the 
affections;  and  the  serpent,  the  carnal  appetites;  Eve 
is  tempted  of  the  serpent,  and  Eve  in  turn  tempts 
Adam;  and  thus  it  is  that  the  soul  of  man  sacrifices 
Paradise,  communion  with  God,  and  falls  under  the 
sentence  of  death. 

The  feminine  qualities  prevail  during  early  child- 
hood; the  feelings  and  the  emotions  are  active;  the 
child  is  easily  moved  to  tears  or  anger;  the  child  often 
senses  conditions  of  which  the  adult  person  is  entirely 
oblivious;  he  knows  what  he  ought  or  ought  not  to  do 
by  instinct,  or  intuition,  rather  than  by  any  process  of 
reason ;  but  if  the  child  be  descended  of  a  virtuous  and 
noble  lineage,  then  it  may  be  that  the  masculine  qualities 
will  be  early  developed.  Such  a  child  at  a  surprisingly 
early  age  may  reason  with  accuracy,  and  show  the 
most  marked  regard  for  truth  and  justice.  "And 
Sarah  saw  the  son  of  Hagar,  the  Egyptian,  mocking." 
He  who  lives  in  the  Egyptian  state  of  consciousness  is 
a  mocker  of  virtue;  piety  to  him  is  foolishness;  mercy 
is  weakness.  To  him  cupidity  is  genius,  and  cruelty  is 
courage.  The  bondwoman  and  her  son  represent  a 
mind  and  heart  in  a  state  of  carnal  bondage,  in  a  state 
of  obsession  to  the  passing  shows  of  the  world.  Sarah 
is  imperative,  for  she  said  unto  Abraham,  "Cast  out 


124  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  bondwoman  and  her  son:  for  the  son  of  the  bond- 
woman shall  not  be  heir  with  my  son,  even  with  Isaac." 
Carnal  mind  is  at  enmity  with  God.  It  is  animalized 
mind;  it  is  a  mocker  of  spiritual  things. 

Liberty  or  freedom  is  the  opposite  of  bondage.  The 
carnally  minded  man  thinks  that  liberty  consists  in 
freedom  of  indulgence ;  nothing  can  be  further  from  the 
truth.  Such  freedom  is  an  illusion;  for  its  direction  is 
toward  limitation  and  death.  Freedom  consists  in  the 
elevation  and  enlargement  of  the  individual  life;  it  is 
born  of  righteousness.  There  is  but  one  liberty.  It  is 
found  in  a  sound  mind  and  a  virtuous  heart;  it  can 
only  be  found  in  a  mind  and  heart  absolutely  free  from 
the  obsessions  of  the  world.  "Blessed  are  the  poor 
in  spirit";  blessed  are  they  who  are  depleted  of  the 
spirit  of  the  world.  The  blessings  of  heaven  belong 
to  Isaac,  the  spiritually  minded,  the  son  of  the  free 
woman. 

"The  son  of  the  bondwoman  shall  not  be  heir  with 
my  son,  even  with  Isaac."  The  perishable  inheritance 
lasting  for  a  day  may  pass  to  the  mocking  Ishmael, 
but  the  inheritance  that  abideth  eternity  belongs  to  the 
God-fearing  Isaac.  "And  Abraham  made  a  great 
feast  the  same  day  that  Isaac  was  weaned."  This 
statement,  though  on  its  face  trivial,  is  profound.  It 
emphasizes  the  unspeakable  importance  of  character 
building.  This  was  a  joyous  feast;  it  is  the  com- 
memoration of  the  day  when  the  divine  possibilities 
of  a  human  soul  are  first  made  manifest.  What  day 
is  more  worthy  of  commemoration  than  that  in  which 
a  righteous  man  and  woman  see  their  combined 
virtues  envisaged  in  their  offspring?  The  first  con- 
sideration of  individual  life  is  perfection  of  character; 
and  the  earliest  revelation  of  virtuous  principles  in  the 


The  Story  of  Isaac  125 

life  of  the  child  was  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  joyful 
acclaim  in  ancient  Israel. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Abraham  cast  out  the  bond- 
woman and  her  son  in  the  wilderness.  The  wilderness, 
or  desert  life  is  much  in  evidence  in  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures. It  is  the  symbol  of  trial,  of  provocation,  and  of 
suffering.  It  is  descriptive  of  the  way  whereby  the 
soul  of  man  is  made  perfect. 

"We  must  through  much  tribulation  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God"  (Acts  14:22).  All  who  would  at- 
tain to  their  true  inheritance  must  abandon  Egypt, 
and  go  by  the  way  of  Sinai  to  the  promised  land; 
this  ordeal  applies  alike  to  all;  it  is  the  law.  Man 
is  made  perfect  by  suffering;  so  was  Moses,  so  was 
Elijah,  and  so  was  Jesus.  Will  it  be  contended 
that  any  human  soul  can  escape  the  operations 
of  the  divine  law  that  inhere  in  the  soul  itself, 
and  that  determine  the  mode  and  manner  of  its 
evolution  ? 

Sarah,  the  princess,  the  Hebrew  Minerva,  the  uni- 
versal mother  is  true  to  the  Law.  She  tells  every 
man  that  he  must  cast  out  the  bondwoman  and  her 
son,  that  his  mind  and  heart  must  rise  above  sensuous 
things,  and  that  he  must  become  her  son  if  he  would 
inherit  the  blessings  of  heaven.  Her  son  is  the  legiti- 
mate son;  he  is  made  perfect  under  the  law.  Minerva 
teaches  man  to  sacrifice  his  animals  (Prov.  9:2;  Matt. 
22:4;  John  2:  15).  The  vestiges  of  animalism  within 
the  soul  itself,  and  which  are  adored  and  worshiped  in 
Egyptian  life,  must  be  driven  out  of  the  temple;  "Those 
mine  enemies  that  would  not  that  I  should  reign  over 
them,  bring  hither,  and  slay  them  before  me"  (Luke 
I9:26).v  Envy,  falsehood,  hate,  malice,  hypocrisy, 
concupiscence,  greed,  and  murder;  the  whole  horde 


126  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

must  be  driven  out  of  the  temple,  or  sacrificed  upon  its 
altar.  This  is  the  Law. 

We  believe  it  was  the  late  Henry  George  who  said: 
"We  know  ourselves  to  be  truly  human  only  by 
discovering  and  exercising  super-animal  traits."  As 
long  as  man  is  enamored  of  the  sensuous,  luxurious, 
and  animalized  life  of  Egypt,  he  is  a  mocker  of  spiritual 
things ;  to  him  they  are  foolish ;  he  is  dead  to  the  spiritual ; 
he  is  dead  and  in  his  grave  and  is  awaiting  resurrection, 
according  to  the  Scriptures  (Ezek.  37:  12,  13;  John  5: 
28;  Hosea  13:  14;  Ps.  31:  17;  Dan.  12:2;  i  Sam.  2:  9; 
i  John  5 :  16).  Man  will  not  live  superior  to  his  animal 
traits  until  he  is  willing  to  sacrifice  them;  he  must  be 
resurrected  from  a  state  of  death ;  and  he  must  be  shown 
the  (Exodus)  "way  out"  by  a  Moses,  an  Elijah,  or  a 
Jesus;  he  must  suffer  the  rigours  of  the  Law.  The 
imperative  command  of  the  Law  is:  "Deny  thyself, 
take  up  thy  cross,  and  follow  me."  The  Israelite  is  he 
who  passes  through  the  Red  Sea;  baptism  with  water 
precedes  baptism  with  fire;  the  fire  descends  at  Sinai; 
this  law  of  sacrifice  is  given  at  Sinai;  to  them  who 
would  worship  the  golden  calf  this  ordeal  is  unbearable. 
"And  they  said  unto  Moses,  Speak  thou  with  us, 
and  we  will  hear;  but  let  not  God  speak  with  us,  lest 
we  die." 

In  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  is  written 
that  Abraham  said  unto  his  eldest  servant  of  his  house, 
that  ruled  over  all  he  had,  ' '  Put  I  pray  thee,  thy  hand 
under  my  thigh  " ;  and  thus  Abraham  makes  his  servant 
swear  by  the  Lord,  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  that 
he  shall  not  take  a  wife  for  Isaac  of  the  daughters  of 
Canaan,  but  that  he  shall  go  hence,  and  take  Isaac 
a  wife  from  among  the  Hebrews.  Abraham's  eldest 
servant, ' '  that  ruled  over  all  that  he  had, "  was  evidently 


The  Story  of  Isaac  127 

a  wise  servant;  for  the  wise  employ  the  services  of 
the  wise.  Why  was  this  servant  made  to  take  an  oath 
with  his  hand  under  the  thigh  of  his  master?  Why  are 
the  wise,  the  lowly,  and  the  just  represented  as  riding 
upon  asses?  (Zech.  9:9;  John  12:15).  The  regnant 
is  above,  the  subservient  is  below.  The  domesticated 
ass  is  the  symbol  of  faithful  and  willing  service,  of 
patience,  and  of  obedience.  When  the  servant  of 
Abraham  put  his  hand  under  the  thigh  of  his  master, 
he  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  and  of  obedience  and  of 
loyalty. 

Why  all  this  care  in  selecting  a  wife  for  Isaac? 
Why  is  this  old  and  faithful  servant  made  to  take  an 
oath  before  God  and  man  he  will  faithfully  obey  his 
master,  and  select  a  wife  for  Isaac  from  among  the 
fairest  and  the  best  who  then  lived  in  the  world?  If 
the  virtues  of  Abraham  and  Sarah  are  to  be  perpetu- 
ated to  remote  generations,  will  it  not  be  because  their 
descendants  are  mated  with  the  fittest?  Is  moral 
development  fortuitous,  capricious,  accidental?  Moral 
development  is  made  manifest  in  justice.  What  is 
justice?  Plato  tells  us  that  Wisdom  is  the  virtue  of 
the  head,  that  it  is  the  governing  virtue;  that  Valor 
is  the  virtue  of  the  heart,  that  the  pure  in  heart  know 
no  fear;  that  Temperance  is  the  virtue  by  which  the 
lower  principle  of  the  soul  is  restrained  and  girded  and 
made  subservient  to  wisdom;  the  regnant  is  above,  the 
subservient  below;  and  that  Justice  is  the  all-inclusive 
virtue,  it  represents  the  principles  of  the  soul  in  unity, 
in  balance,  in  harmony ;  in  a  word,  it  represents  the 
soul's  perfection. 

We  read  in  the  Scriptures  of  a  royal  race,  of  a  chosen 
people,  of  the  elect.  Were  such  a  people  developed 
by  accident?  It  stands  to  reason  that  such  a  people 


128  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

were  developed  by  an  orderly  cultivation  of  the  virtues, 
by  a  strict  adherence  to  principles.  Moses  Mendels- 
sohn, the  famous  Jewish  philosopher,  in  a  letter  to  his 
friend  Johann  Casper  Lavater,  in  December,  1769,  said: 

I  do  not  consider  what  should  rivet  me  to  a  religion,  to 
appearances  so  excessively  severe,  and  so  commonly  ex- 
ploded, if  I  were  not  convinced  in  my  heart  of  its  truth. 
.  .  .  Yet  of  the  essentials  of  my  religion  I  am  as  firmly,  as 
irrefragably  convinced,  as  ever  you  can  be  of  yours.  And 
I  herewith  declare,  in  the  presence  of  the  God  of  truth, 
your  and  my  Creator  and  Supporter,  by  whom  you  conjure 
me  in  your  dedication,  that  I  will  adhere  to  my  principles 
so  long  as  my  entire  soul  does  not  assume  another  form. 

The  Hebrew  Scriptures  are  very  ancient,  but  being 
true  to  human  nature,  they  can  in  no  event  become 
obsolete.  The  Scriptures  are  intended  to  explain,  and 
they  do  explain  "the  Law  that  endureth  forever" 
(Baruch  4:1).  The  descendants  of  ancient  Israel,  or 
the  great  mass  of  them,  have  not  known  the  Law,  and 
have  made  little  or  no  endeavor  to  live  it,  for  many 
centuries.  The  reason  for  this  is  apparent.  The 
soft,  the  luxurious,  the  sensuous,  the  Egyptian  life,  the 
life  of  the  worldly,  is  the  life  most  comfortable  to  flesh ; 
but  they  of  this  life  "are  not  the  children  of  God" 
(Rom.  9:8).  "They  are  not  all  Israelites,  which  are 
of  Israel."  "Did  not  Moses  give  you  the  Law,  and 
yet  none  of  you  keepeth  the  Law?"  (John  7:19). 
Mendelssohn  did  not  know  why  he  should  be  riveted 
to  a  religion  "so  excessively  severe,"  except  that  he 
believed  in  his  heart  that  it  is  true.  The  Law  of 
heaven  is  rigorous;  it  suffers  no  violation  to  go  un- 
punished; and  moreover,  it  imperatively  commands 
every  rational  soul  to  abandon  the  sensuous  life  of 


The  Story  of  Isaac  129 

Egypt,  and  to  flee  into  the  desert,  and  to  sacrifice  his 
animals.  The  psychology  of  the  Scriptures  is  veiled. 
"They  shall  take  them  captives,  whose  captives  they 
were,  and  they  shall  rule  over  their  oppressors"  (Isa. 
14:2). 

It  is  not  necessary  to  ask  why  the  Gentiles  do  not 
know  the  Law;  for  their  home  is  in  Egypt.  They  are 
not  near  to  the  Law.  They  alone  know  the  Law  who 
are  in  their  hearts  Israelites;  they  alone  know  the  Law 
who  have  abandoned  Egypt,  and  have  suffered  the 
rigors  of  the  Law.  "I  will  send  thee  far  hence  to 
the  Gentiles."  Why  are  the  Israelites  ignorant  and 
neglectful  of  the  deep  things  of  the  Law?  The  condi- 
tion of  knowing  the  truth  is  a  willingness  to  do  it ;  he 
who  is  neglectful  of  the  truth  loses  the  capacity  to 
perceive  it.  "He  that  doeth  the  truth  cometh  to  the 
Light."  Wisdom  is  more  than  knowledge;  it  is  illumi- 
nation, it  is  the  light  of  Heaven  within  the  soul  whereby 
things  are  beheld  in  their  true  relation ;  it  is  represented 
in  the  perfection  of  the  soul  itself.  Men  err  in  nothing 
so  much  as  in  wronging  their  own  natures;  none  are 
just  to  themselves;  and  because  of  this  they  are  unjust 
to  others.  Nothing  can  be  truer  than  the  advice  which 
Polonius  gave  to  his  son  Laertes : 

This  above  all, — to  thine  own  self  be  true; 
And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man. 

As  a  political  power  the  Israelites  have  never  been 
consequential;  and  it  is  not  possible  that  they  should. 
Israel's  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  He  who  enters 
into  the  political  and  commercial  activities  of  the 
world  ceases  to  be  an  Israelite.  "He  is  a  Jew  who  is 

9 


130  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

one  inwardly."  They  who  are  true  Israelites  are  not 
engaged  in  gainful  and  worldly  activities.  "Israel  is  a 
people  that  stands  alone,  that  does  not  count  among 
the  nations"  (Num.  23:9).  They  are  Israelites  who 
are  related  to  the  Spiritual  kingdom,  the  kingdom  that 
transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world.  "If 
my  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  ser- 
vants fight."  Israel's  strength  is  not  of  the  world; 
it  is  not  commercial ;  it  is  not  political.  ' '  Not  by  virtue 
of  material  strength  and  political  power  shall  ye  prevail, 
but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord"  (Zech.  4:6;  Jere. 
9:  24).  They  who  are  Israelites  in  their  hearts  are  not 
governed  of  men;  they  are  governed  of  God.  "And 
Gideon  said  unto  the  Israelites,  I  will  not  rule  over 
you,  neither  shall  my  son  rule  over  you :  the  Lord  shall 
rule  over  you"  (Judges  8:  23).  They  who  are  related 
to  the  spiritual  kingdom,  and  are  thus  in  a  state  of 
unity,  harmony,  love,  and  justice,  are  Israelites.  If 
we  are  consciously  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  we 
are  Israelites,  and  though  we  live  in  the  world,  we  are 
not  of  the  world.  The  individual  man  is  either,  related 
to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  or  to  the  animal  kingdom 
represented  by  the  world.  "No  man  can  serve  two 
masters,  ye  can  not  serve  God  and  Mammon." 

In  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Genesis,  is  a  leg- 
endary account  of  how  the  eldest  servant  of  Abraham 
took  ten  of  the  camels  of  his  master  and  went  to  Meso- 
potamia unto  the  city  of  Nahor;  and  there  found  the 
fair  and  gracious  Rebekah  who  became  the  wife  of 
Isaac.  It  is  written  that  Isaac  first  meets  Rebekah 
when  he  has  gone  forth  to  meditate.  "And  Isaac 
came  by  the  way  of  the  well  of  Lahairoi ;  for  he  dwelt 
in  the  south  country.  And  Isaac  went  out  to  meditate  • 
in  the  field  at  the  eventide;  and  he  lifted  up  his  eyes, 


The  Story  of  Isaac  131 

and  saw,  and,  behold,  the  camels  were  coming." 
"And  Isaac  came  by  the  way  of  the  well  of  Lahairoi." 
A  well  is  a  symbol  of  knowledge;  and  Lahairoi  means 
"the  living  are  endowed  with  sight."  Who  are  "the 
living,"  and  who  are  "the  dead"?  The  dead  are 
they  who  are  in  the  Gentile  state,  they  who  live  after 
the  flesh,  they  who  abide  in  the  Egyptian  state  of 
consciousness.  "The  Egyptians  said,  We  be  all  dead 
men"  (Ex.  12:33).  "The  children  of  the  flesh  are 
not  the  children  of  God"  (Rom.  9:8). 

"God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living" 
(Matt.  22:32).  God  is  the  God  of  those  who  have 
abandoned  the  sensuous  and  animalized  state  of 
consciousness;  He  is  the  God  of  the  resurrected.  Man 
is  man  because  of  his  mentality.  The  son  of  man,  the 
mind  of  man,  must  be  lifted  up,  as  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness.  The  living  are  they  who  are 
related  to  the  spiritual  kingdom,  the  kingdom  of  love, 
and  of  justice,  and  of  righteousness;  the  kingdom  that 
transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world.  "I  am 
the  Lord  that  do  work  love,  and  justice,  and  righteous- 
ness in  the  earth:  for  in  these  things  I  delight,  saith  the 
Lord  "  (Jer.  9 :  24) .  The  living  are  they  who  ' '  come  by 
the  way  of  the  well  of  Lahairoi." 

"And  Isaac  went  out  to  meditate."  When  the  mind 
and  affections  of  the  individual  are  set  upon  the  things 
of  the  world,  he  is  in  a  state  of  bondage.  "Why  turn 
ye  again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  things  of  the  world, 
do  ye  again  desire  to  be  in  bondage?"  (Gal.  4:9). 
They  who  are  obsessed  by  the  things  of  the  world  are 
incapable  of  meditation.  The  human  soul  must  be 
just  and  upright  before  God  if  it  would  be  the  instru- 
ment of  meditation.  "The  observation  of  nature," 
says  Goethe,  "requires  a  certain  purity  of  mind,  which 


132  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

cannot  be  disturbed  or  preoccupied  by  anything." 
None  but  the  virtuous,  none  but  the  pure  in  heart  are 
capable  of  meditation.  "God  revealeth  His  secret 
unto  His  servants  the  prophets"  (Amos  3:7;  Ps. 
25:  14).  "Meditate,  ye  that  ride  on  white  asses;  and 
that  walk  by  the  way"  (Judges  5:  10). 

Paul  talks  about  "Christ  being  formed  in  you" 
(Gal.  4:  19).  What  is  it  to  have  Christ  formed  in  you? 
Christ,  or  right  reason,  is  not  formed  in  you  as  long  as 
you  are  controlled  by  precepts:  by  inhibitions  and 
commands  from  without,  and  by  material  and  worldly 
considerations.  People  who  are  led  hither  and  yon  by 
every  outward  show,  Paul  called  "my  little  children" 
(Gal.  4:  19).  Christ  is  formed  in  you  when  reason 
maintains  the  ascendancy  and  fearlessly  performs  its 
every  office;  Christ  is  formed  in  you  when  you  are 
controlled  from  within,  and  not  from  without.  Our 
animal  traits  lead  us  to  adore  and  love  the  things  of  the 
world,  when  these  traits:  pride,  lust,  greed,  revenge, 
malice,  falsehood,  hypocrisy,  anger,  and  hate,  are  in 
the  ascendant ;  then  is  man  led  in  every  direction  but 
the  right  one ;  then  is  man  controlled  from  without,  and 
not  from  within.  Then  is  man  led  hither  and  yon  by 
everything  that  promises  carnal  gratification.  When 
reason  sits  composedly  at  the  summit  of  the  temple, 
and  commands  Satan,  the  lord  of  the  world,  and  his 
animalized  horde  (Luke  4:9),  then  is  Christ  formed 
within  the  soul,  then  is  man  the  master,  then  is  man 
controlled  from  within,  and  not  from  without. 

Isaac  is  a  true  type  of  the  self-governing.  He  is  the 
child  of  promise  because  he  is  governed  from  within  and 
not  from  without.  He  is  not  controlled  by  commands 
and  inhibitions  imposed  on  him  by  others;  but  by  reason 
and  conscience,  by  the  divine  within  his  own  soul. 


The  Story  of  Isaac  133 

Mentality  is  the  eye  of  God.  "I  will  instruct  thee  and 
teach  thee  in  the  way  which  thou  shalt  go:  I  will 
guide  thee  with  mine  eye.  Be  not  as  the  horse,  or  as 
the  mule,  which  have  no  understanding :  whose  mouth 
must  be  held  in  with  bit  and  bridle,  lest  they  come  near 
unto  thee  "  (Ps.  32 :  9).  The  spontaneous  and  intuitive 
perception  of  truth  precedes  its  reflection,  its  medita- 
tion. The  pure  in  heart  are  intuitive,  they  are  inspira- 
tional, they  are  led  and  taught  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that 
is  all  knowing.  "Quench  not  the  Spirit.  Despise  not 
prophesyings.  Prove  all  things;  hold  fast  to  what  is 
good"  (i  Thess.  5:19-21).  Great  truths  are  intui- 
tively perceived;  and  the  meditative  are  they  who 
make  the  most  of  truth.  "He  that  doeth  the  truth 
cometh  to  the  Light."  All  higher  knowledge  is  born  of 
virtue;  intuition,  or  inspiration,  comes  of  purity  of  life. 
The  office  of  meditation  is  to  "prove  all  things";  but 
its  highest  office  is  to  prove  those  things  concerning 
human  nature  itself  which  are  first  intuitively  per- 
ceived. Aristotle  contended  that  they  who  reject  the 
testimony  of  their  intuitions  will  find  nothing  surer 
on  which  to  build. 

Wisdom  says  that  God  is  Love, 
That  He  is  known  by  what  He  is. 
Let  men  from  wiles  and  conceits  flee, 
And  seek  by  righteousness  to  see. 

It  is  said  that  the  chaste  and  meditative  Isaac 
Newton  discovered  the  law  of  gravitation ;  and  that  he 
meditated  the  principle  which  he  had  intuitively  per- 
ceived for  several  years  before  he  taught  it  and  de- 
monstrated it  mathematically.  Meditation  is  the 
process  whereby  principles  intuitively  perceived  are 


134  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

applied  and  demonstrated.  Emerson  and  Emanuel 
Kent,  and  all  the  Transcendentalists  have  taught  that 
principles  are  intuitively  perceived.  "Meditate,  ye 
that  ride  on  white  asses,  and  that  walk  by  the  way." 
Meditate,  ye  that  have  escaped  the  obsessions  of  the 
sensuous  world.  Meditate,  ye  that  are  ' '  poor  in  spirit, ' ' 
that  are  depleted  of  the  spirit  of  the  world;  for  your 
inheritance  "is  the  kingdom  of  heaven"  (Matt.  5:3). 
Meditate,  ye  that  "come  by  the  way  of  the  well  of 
Lahairoi."  Lahairoi:  "the  living,  the  resurrected,  are 
endowed  with  sight."  Moses  and  Jesus,  and  the 
great  of  old,  were  they  that  came  by  the  way  of  the 
well  of  Lahairoi. 

The  great  are  they  who  live  worthy  of  the  truth; 
for  the  condition  of  knowing  the  truth  is  a  willingness 
to  do  it.  "He  that  doeth  the  truth  cometh  to  the 
Light."  The  great  of  old  were  they  who  lived  worthy 
of  a  knowledge  of  the  Law  of  Human  Life,  and  medi- 
tated it,  and  demonstrated  it  in  the  lives  they  lived. 
"I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life;  and  no  man 
cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me"  (John  14:6). 
"O  how  I  love  Thy  Law!  it  is  my  meditation  all  the 
day"  (Ps.  119:97).  The  mind  is  made  strong  and 
vigorous  and  self-reliant,  not  by  what  it  passively 
receives  from  others,  but  by  its  own  action,  by  medita- 
tion upon  what  it  receives.  If  man  would  be  a  man, 
if  he  would  have  "Christ  formed  in  him, "  he  must  be 
just,  he  must  live  a  clean  and  virtuous  life,  he  must 
live  worthy  of  the  truth,  he  must  meditate  principles, 
and  demonstrate  them.  It  therefore  stands  to  reason, 
that  in  all  higher  thought  intuition  precedes  meditation. 
The  meditative  are  they  who  have  passed  by  the  way 
of  the  well  of  Lahairoi ;  the  meditative  are  they  who  are 
born  of  regenerate  parents ;  the  children  of  the  regener- 


The  Story  of  Isaac  135 

ate  "are  counted  for  the  seed"  (Rom.  9:  8,  Gen.  21 :  12). 
The  meditative,  the  virtuous,  are  they  who  are  destined 
to  reform  the  world.  "Salvation  is  of  the  Jews." 

In  the  twenty-sixth  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  is  written 
that  there  was  a  famine,  and  that  Isaac  went  into  the 
land  of  the  Philistines  unto  Gerar.  The  name  Gerar 
means  sojourning;  so  Isaac  was  but  a  temporary  resi- 
dent, a  mere  sojourner,  in  the  land  of  the  Philistines. 
"And  the  Lord  appeared  unto  Isaac,  and  said,  Go  not 
down  into  Egypt;  dwell  in  the  land  which  I  will  tell  thee 
of."  This  is  a  beautiful  figure  of  speech.  Isaac  is  ad- 
monished not  to  become  a  sensualist ;  but  to  maintain 
himself  on  the  spiritual  plane  of  consciousness.  He  is 
commanded  of  God,  of  consciousness  and  of  reason, 
not  to  go  down  into  Egypt,  not  to  fall  from  the  spiritual 
plane  to  the  material.  All  who  live  worthy  of  the 
promised  land,  all  who  live  above  the  spirit  of  the  sensu- 
ous animal  world,  are  told  of  the  promised  land,  are 
told  of  the  Kingdom  of  God;  and  it  is  the  Spirit  of 
God  Himself  which  brings  to  man  this  high  and  holy 
message.  "Sojourn  in  this  land  [the  land  which 
I  shall  tell  thee  of]  and  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  will 
bless  thee;  for  unto  thee,  and  unto  thy  seed,  I  will  give 
all  these  countries,  and  I  will  perform  the  oath  which 
I  sware  unto  Abraham  thy  father." 

"Blessed  are  the  meek:  for  they  shall  inherit  the 
earth"  (Matt.  5:5).  Meekness  is  gentleness;  it  is  self- 
control;  it  is  control  by  conscience  and  reason;  it  is 
freedom  from  control  by  the  unrestrained  passions 
and  emotions.  Death  and  extermination  is  the  fate 
of  sensuality;  life,  liberty,  enlargement,  possession, 
salvation,  are  the  inheritance  of  meekness,  of  righteous- 
ness, and  of  justice.  "I  will  give  thee  all  these  coun- 
tries." All  cruelty,  all  wrong,  all  devastation  by  war, 


136  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

famine,  and  pestilence  is  the  result  of  living  on  a  low, 
carnal,  animalized  plane  of  consciousness.  "Let  us 
go,  we  pray  thee,  three  days'  journey  into  the  desert, 
and  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  our  God;  lest  he  fall  upon 
us  with  pestilence,  or  with  sword"  (Ex.  5:3).  If 
man  would  escape  the  vengeance  of  heaven,  he  must 
abandon  Egypt.  "For  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed 
from  heaven  against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteous- 
ness of  men,  who  treat  the  truth  with  contempt" 
(Rom.  1:18). 

"And  Isaac  dwelt  in  Gerar.  And  the  men  of  the 
place  asked  him  of  his  wife;  and  he  said,  She  is  my 
sister;  for  he  feared  to  say,  She  is  my  wife;  lest,  said  he, 
the  men  of  the  place  should  kill  me  for  Rebekah." 
This  singular  language  teaches  the  Fatherhood  of  God 
and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  "Have  we  not  all  One 
Father?  Has  not  One  God  created  us  all?"  (Mai. 
2:  10;  Isa.  63:  1 6).  "And  the  men  of  the  place  asked 
him  of  his  wife"  (and  Isaac  answers  them  in  a  parable) 
"lest,  said  he,  the  men  of  the  place  should  kill  him  for 
Rebekah."  This  brief  statement  tells  the  whole  story; 
it  reveals  the  plane  of  consciousness  on  which  the 
Philistines  abided.  Every  one  who  wrongs  man, 
woman,  or  child  to  the  end  that  he  may  gratify  his 
carnal  desires  is  a  Philistine,  a  carnalist,  a  Hamite; 
and  all  such  abide  in  the  Egyptian  state  of  conscious- 
ness. This  is  the  plane  of  carnal  mind ;  it  is  the  plane 
on  which  all  evil  originates. 

Isaac  lives  above  the  sensuous  plane  of  consciousness ; 
he  is  more  human  than  animal ;  he  is  intuitional ;  he  is 
inspirational;  he  is  given  to  meditation.  "And  Jesus 
said  unto  them,  Ye  are  from  beneath;  I  am  from  above: 
ye  are  of  the  world;  I  am  not  of  the  world.  .  .  .  Then 
Jesus  said  unto  them,  When  ye  have  lifted  up  the  son 


The  Story  of  Isaac  137 

of  man  [when  your  own  minds  are  lifted  above  the 
things  of  the  sensuous  animal  world],  then  shall  ye 
know  that  I  am  he  [that  I  am  an  organ  of  the  Holy 
Spirit],  and  that  I  do  nothing  of  myself;  but  as  my 
Father  has  taught  me,  I  speak  these  things"  (John 
8:23,28).  "God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  His 
holy  prophets,  which  have  been  since  the  world  began" 
(Luke  1 :  70;  Neh.  9:  30;  Jer.  7:  25;  Ezek.  33:  7). 

"And  Abimelech  charged  all  of  his  people,  saying, 
He  that  toucheth  this  man  or  his  wife  shall  surely  be 
put  to  death.  Then  Isaac  sowed  in  that  land,  and 
received  in  the  same  year,  an  hundredfold:  and  the 
Lord  blessed  him."  When  virtue  is  recognized,  when 
it  is  honored,  it  speedily  increases  an  hundredfold, 
and  is  blessed  of  God.  They  who  faithfully  cultivate 
the  virtues  are  blessed  of  God.  "I  am  the  Lord  that 
do  work  Love,  Justice,  and  Righteousness :  for  in  these 
things  I  delight,  saith  the  Lord"  (Jer.  9:24).  "And 
the  man  waxed  great,  and  went  forward,  and  grew 
until  he  became  very  great."  The  greatness  of  Isaac 
did  not  consist  in  the  number  of  his  flocks  and  herds 
and  servants  (Gen.  26:  14) ;  but  in  the  greatness  of  the 
life  he  lived,  and  the  principles  for  which  he  stood. 

"And  Abimelech  said  unto  Isaac,  Go  from  us;  for 
thou  art  much  mightier  than  we."  The  life  of  the 
virtuous  and  upright  Isaac  was  a  great  reproach  to  the 
wicked  and  sensuous  Philistines.  For  every  teacher 
of  virtue  is  an  abomination  to  the  sensuous.  "For 
every  shepherd  is  an  abomination  to  the  Egyptians" 
(Gen.  46:34).  But  a  little  farther  on  we  shall  see 
how  Abimelech,  and  his  friend,  and  the  chief  captain 
of  his  army,  repent  of  their  evil  ways,  and  come  to 
Isaac  for  help  and  guidance.  Isaac,  like  all  the  great, 
is  a  savior.  All  who  live  above  the  spirit  of  the  world 


138  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

aid  in  saving  mankind  from  sin  and  error.  "When 
they  cried  unto  thee,  thou  heardest  them  from  heaven ; 
and  according  to  thy  manifold  mercies  thou  gavest 
to  them  Saviours,  who  saved  them  out  of  the  hand  of 
their  enemies"  (Neh.  9:27;  Obad.  verse  21;  Judges 
2:18). 

"And  Isaac  digged  again  the  wells  of  water,  which 
they  had  digged  in  the  days  of  Abraham  his  father; 
for  the  Philistines  had  stopped  them  after  the  death  of 
Abraham:  and  he  called  their  names  after  the  names 
by  which  his  father  had  called  them."  The  conceited, 
the  sensuous,  the  animalized,  are  always  seeking  to 
stop  the  wells  of  knowledge  that  are  digged  by  the 
virtuous;  and  they  are  always  seeking  to  "stop  and 
fill  them  with  earth, "  with  their  sensuous  and  materialis- 
tic opinions;  and  strange  as  it  may  seem,  these  wells 
have  been  stopped  often  in  the  name  of  God,  and  of 
religion.  Perhaps  it  was  Pope,  the  poet,  who  said: 
"There  never  was  a  party,  faction,  or  cabal,  in  which 
the  most  ignorant  were  not  the  most  violent ;  for  a  bee 
is  not  a  busier  animal  than  a  blockhead." 

But  God  is  infinite  in  resource  and  power;  and  when 
it  is  necessary  that  the  wells  be  "digged  again"  an 
Isaac  appears.  "The  children  of  the  promise  [the 
children  of  the  regenerate]  are  counted  for  the  seed" 
(Rom.  9:8);  it  is  the  children,  the  descendants  of  the 
virtuous  and  just,  who  are  to  lead  the  people  of  all 
nations  to  higher  planes  of  consciousness.  It  is  the 
children  of  the  royal  race  who  are  destined  to  lead  man- 
kind to  the  Lord's  house,  that  is  established  in  the  top 
of  the  mountains,  and  is  exalted  above  the  hills  (Isa. 
2:2,  3).  The  Scriptures  teach  that  the  day  shall 
come  when  they  who  abide  on  the  lowest  plane  of 
human  consciousness  shall  be  awakened  out  of  their 


The  Story  of  Isaac  139 

state  of  death,  and  be  made  to  realize  a  higher  state  of 
consciousness.  And  the  day  shall  come  when  they 
who  are  ready  to  perish  in  the  land  of  Assyria,  and  the 
outcasts  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  shall  worship  the  Lord 
in  the  holy  mount  at  Jerusalem  (Isa.  27:  13). 

The  wells  here  referred  to  evidently  represent  states 
of  knowledge,  states  of  development,  states  of  con- 
sciousness. Isaac  is  represented  as  passing  through 
the  trials  and  temptations  to  which  his  father  was 
subjected.  Isaac  digged  the  same  wells  that  his  father 
had  digged;  "And  he  called  their  names  after  the  names 
by  which  his  father  had  called  them."  Every  well 
which  Isaac  digged  is  attended  with  trials,  contentions, 
and  trouble  except  the  last  two.  The  story  of  the  wells 
would  have  us  know  that  Isaac  experienced  the  same 
storm  and  stress  to  which  all  the  great  are  subjected. 
Will  any  one  ever  enter  into  the  promised  land,  into 
the  higher  state  of  consciousness,  without  experienc- 
ing the  rigors  of  the  desert  life?  Will  any  one  ever 
attain  to  his  true  inheritance,  without  digging  all  of 
the  wells  which  were_digged  by  Abraham,  and  ' '  digged 
again"  by  Isaac?  "We  must  through  much  tribula- 
tion enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God"  (Acts  14:22). 
It  is  written  that  Isaac  digged  several  wells :  Esek,  the 
well  of  strife ;  Sitnah,  the  well  of  contention ;  Rehoboth, 
the  well  of  roominess,  spaciousness,  and  of  liberty; 
and  lastly  Beersheba,  the  well  of  the  oath,  the  seventh 
well,  the  well  of  rest  and  peace  and  brotherhood. 
All  who  persist  in  leading  clean  and  virtuous  lives  are 
destined  to  come  by  the  way  of  the  well  of  Rehoboth 
and  the  well  of  Lahairoi;  they  are  destined  to  find 
liberty  and  peace,  and  to  "be  fruitful  in  the  land" 
(Gen.  26 122). 

Since  Beersheba  is  the  seventh  well,  it  would  seem 


140  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

that  Rehoboth  was  the  sixth.  The  number  six,  when 
used  in  a  psychological  sense,  represents  all  the  states 
of  labor,  combat,  and  temptation,  that  precede  the 
coming  of  the  day  of  rest  and  peace;  all  the  states 
of  trial  and  temptation  that  precede  regeneration. 
"And  Isaac  removed  from  thence  [from  Sitnah,  the 
well  of  contention]  and  digged  another  well;  and 
for  that  they  strove  not:  and  he  called  the  name  of  it 
Rehoboth;  and  he  said,  For  now  the  Lord  hath  made 
room  for  us,  and  we  shall  be  fruitful  in  this  land." 
Man,  would  he  be  fruitful,  must  conquer  all  of  those 
enemies:  envy,  malice,  lust,  greed,  hypocrisy,  revenge, 
and  murder,  "which  would  not  that  he  should  reign 
over  them"  (Luke  19:27).  This  animal  horde  must 
be  driven  out  of  the  temple. 

Isaac  digged  the  well  of  Rehoboth,  the  sixth  well, 
and  he  is  at  peace  with  himself,  and  with  all  the  world. 
He  has  overcome  the  world,  and  is  fruitful.  The 
mental  Isaac,  the  Man,  has  wrestled  through  a  long 
night  of  trial  and  temptation  with  the  lower  Isaac,  the 
outer  Isaac,  the  Isaac  of  flesh,  and  has  won  the  final 
victory.  The  mental  body,  the  spiritual  body,  has 
attained  to  complete  mastery  over  the  natural  body. 
"That  which  is  natural  is  first,  and  afterwards  that 
which  is  spiritual"  (i  Cor.  15:46).  Plato  in  his  dia- 
logue, The  Republic,  tells  what  it  is  that  distinguished 
the  man  of  capacity,  the  fruitful  man,  from  the  man 
who  is  wanting  in  capacity.  "The  one  has  a  body 
which  is  a  good  servant  to  his  Mind,  while  the  body  of 
the  other  is  at  war  with  his  Mind."  This  recalls  the 
words  of  Paul,  "Meats  for  the  belly,  and  the  belly  for 
meats :  but  God  shall  destroy  both  it  and  them.  Now 
the  body  is  not  for  prostitution,  but  for  the  Lord;  and 
the  Lord  is  for  the  body"  (i  Cor.  6: 13).  This  we 


The  Story  of  Isaac  141 

would  interpret :  meats  and  the  body  of  man  are  of  the 
earth ;  they  are  animal,  and  are  doomed  to  destruction. 
The  body  is  not  for  prostitution  and  lust,  but  to  be 
a  good  servant  of  the  Mind;  for  the  Mind  is  for  the 
government  of  the  body.  Dissimulation,  aye,  evil  in 
its  every  form,  is  born  of  sensuality  as  Shakespeare  so 
ingeniously  affirmed;  for  its  every  effect  is  to  render 
one  more  and  more  incapable  of  perceiving  what  is 
true  and  loving  what  is  good. 

I  will  not  do  it; 

Lest  I  surcease  to  honor  mine  own  truth, 
And  by  my  body's  action,  teach  my  mind 
A  most  inherent  baseness. 

Coriolanus,  3:2. 

"And  Isaac  went  up  from  thence  [from  the  well  of 
Rehoboth]  to  Beersheba."  Isaac  has  attained  to 
"the  third  day,"  or  what  is  the  same,  the  seventh; 
he  has  attained  to  "my  day."  "Your  father  Abraham 
saw  my  day,  and  rejoiced"  (John  8:56).  So  God 
creates  Man  in  his  own  image;  male  and  female;  and 
he  makes  him  perfect  on  the  sixth  day;  and  then 
God  and  Man  are  said  to  rest  on  the  seventh  day,  the 
Sabbath.  The  keeping  of  the  Sabbath  is  a  perpetual 
celebration  of  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  God, 
and  the  perfection  of  Man.  "And  Isaac  went  up  to 
Beersheba."  The  Lord  now  appears  unto  Isaac  and 
promises  him  untold  blessings;  Isaac  is  now  related 
to  the  Spiritual  kingdom,  the  kingdom  that  transcends 
the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world.  "And  Isaac  builded 
an  altar  there,  and  called  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord 
and  pitched  his  tent  there." 

There  wanted  yet  the  master-work,  the  end 
Of  all  yet  done — a  creature  who,  not  prone 


142  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

And  brute  as  other  creatures,  but  endued 
With  sanctity  of  reason,  might  erect  » 

His  stature,  and,  upright  with  front  serene 
Govern  the  rest,  self-knowing,  and  from  thence 
Magnanimous  to  correspond  with  Heaven, 
But  grateful  to  acknowledge  whence  his  good 
Descends;  thither  with  heart,  and  voice,  and  eyes 
Directed  in  devotion,  to  adore 
And  worship  God  Supreme,  who  made  him  chief 
Of  all  his  works. 

MILTON:  Paradise  Lost. 

Abimelech  went  from  Gerar  to  Isaac  with  a  friend 
and  the  chief  captain  of  his  army.  "And  Isaac  said 
unto  them,  Wherefore  come  ye  to  me,  seeing  ye  hate 
me,  and  have  sent  me  away  from  you?  And  they 
said,  We  saw  certainly  that  the  Lord  was  with  thee." 
It  is  now  proposed  that  they  take  an  oath  of  peace  and 
good  fellowship,  at  the  well  of  Beersheba,  the  well  of  the 
oath,  the  well  of  peace,  the  well  of  brotherhood ;  and  it 
is  written  that  Isaac  made  them  a  feast ;  and  that  they 
did  eat  and  drink ;  and  that  they  departed  from  Isaac  in 
peace.  Virtue  persisted  in  is  victorious  over  all  comers ; 
and  its  end  is  rest  and  eternal  peace.  ' '  But  be  of  good 
cheer;  I  have  overcome  the  world"  (John  16:33). 

"Remember  what  things  God  did  to  Abraham,  and 
how  he  tried  Isaac,  and  what  happened  to  Jacob  in 
Mesopotamia,  of  Syria.  For  He  hath  not  tried  us  in 
the  fire  as  He  did  them  .  .  .  but  God  doth  scourge  them 
that  come  near  unto  Him,  to  admonish  them"  (Judith 
8:  26,  27).  The  living,  the  resurrected,  they  who  have 
come  by  the  way  of  the  well  of  Lahairoi,  are  "near 
unto  God";  for  it  is  written  that  they  "shall  live  in 
His  sight"  (Hosea  6:2).  "Israel  is  a  people  near 
unto  God"  (Ps.  148:  14). 


The  Story  of  Isaac  143 

Let  no  man  believe  that  he  can  attain  to  true  great- 
ness without  passing  all  the  trials  and  temptations 
experienced  by  the  patriarchs  of  old ;  let  no  man  believe 
that  he  can  attain  to  perfection  without  digging  all  of 
the  wells  which  were  digged  by  Abraham,  and  "digged 
again"  by  Isaac.  The  lives  of  the  patriarchs  are  before 
us;  it  is  written  that  they  lived  the  true  life,  and  at- 
tained to  power  and  glory;  it  is  within  the  power  of 
men  living  to-day  to  attain  to  the  power  and  glory 
made  manifest  in  the  lives  of  the  patriarchs.  "He 
that  believeth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do 
also;  and  greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do"  (John 
14:12). 

Every  rational  being  has  a  great  and  serious  work 
to  do;  and  every  evil  thought  and  deed  adds  new 
burdens  to  the  task.  "Hear,  O  earth:  behold,  I  will 
bring  evil  upon  this  people,  even  the  fruits  of  their 
thoughts,  because  they  have  not  hearkened  unto  My 
Words,  nor  My  Law,  but  rejected  It"  (Jer.  6:  19; 
Prov.  1:31).  "Be  not  deceived;  God  is  not  mocked: 
for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap" 
(Gal.  6:7).  Man  is  a  co-worker  with  God  in  the  at- 
tainment of  his  own  perfection;  "man  was  put  into  the 
Garden  of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it."  "For 
we  are  all  labourers  together  with  God"  (i  Cor.  3:9; 
2  Cor.  6:  i). 

Can  there  be  a  greater  error  under  Heaven,  than  to 
fail  to  be  a  faithful  worker  together  with  God  in  the 
improvement  of  the  mind,  and  heart,  and  soul?  It  is 
certainly  the  will  of  Heaven  that  man  shall  bravely 
face  the  trials  and  temptations  of  life,  and  do  the  very 
best  he  can;  and  thus  go  from  well  to  well,  from 
"character  to  character."  This  man  must  do  if  he 
would  attain  to  the  well  of  Lahairoi,  the  well  of  the 


144  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

living,  the  well  of  the  seeing,  the  well  of  the  resurrected, 
the  well  of  liberty.  Why  does  God  afflict?  Why  does 
He  chasten  ?  Why  does  God  lead  us  by  the  way  of  the 
wells  of  strife,  of  contention,  of  sorrow,  and  of  suffering? 
It  is  that  we  may  "remember  all  the  way"  (Deut. 
8:2,  3).  What  God  lays  upon  us  is  for  our  own  good; 
it  is  the  work  of  mercy.  "He  afflicteth  not  willingly, 
but  for  our  profit,  that  we  may  be  partakers  of  His 
holiness"  (Heb.  12:  10);  and  thus  we  behold: 

The  protractive  trials  of  great  Jove 
To  find  persistive  constancy  in  man. 

Troilus  and  Cressida. 

It  is  the  duty  of  each  and  all  to  face  the  reponsibili- 
ties  of  life,  as  did  the  patriarchs  of  old,  and  go  bravely 
forward,  that  we  may  be  numbered  with  those  who  are 
"near  unto  God."  The  great  are  they  that  go  forward 
in  the  high  and  holy  work  of  self -improvement.  "And 
the  man,  Isaac,  waxed  great,  and  went  forward,  and 
grew  until  he  became  very  great"  (Gen.  26:  13). 
"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Wherefore  criest  thou 
unto  Me?  speak  to  the  children  of  Israel  that  they  go 
forward"  (Ex.  14: 15). 


CHAPTER    V 

THE    STORY    OF   JACOB 

"And  God  said  unto  Jacob,  Arise,  go  up  to  Bethel,  and  dwell  there" 
(Gen.  35:  I). 

THERE  are  several  chapters  in  Genesis,  especially 
twenty-seven  to  thirty-seven,  that  are  largely 
descriptive  of  the  experiences  of  Jacob.  Of  Rebekah, 
the  mother  of  Esau  and  Jacob,  it  is  written:  "And 
the  Lord  said  unto  her,  Two  nations  are  in  thy  womb, 
and  two  manner  of  people  shall  be  separated  from  thee ; 
and  the  one  people  shall  be  stronger  than  the  other 
people;  and  the  elder  shall  serve  the  younger"  (Gen. 
25 :  23).  The  Scriptures,  speaking  broadly,  divide  man- 
kind into  two  classes:  the  Gentile  and  the  Israelite; 
the  unregenerate  and  the  regenerate ;  those  who  live  the 
sensuous  life  and  those  who  abandon  it ;  those  who  live 
a  life  more  animal  than  human  and  those  who  honestly 
seek  to  live  the  spiritual  life.  This  line  of  cleavage, 
everywhere  present  in  human  society,  is  represented 
in  Esau  and  Jacob;  they  were  twins;  Esau  was  the 
first-born  in  time,  and  was  "all  over  like  an  hairy  gar- 
ment"; and  the  hand  of  Jacob  who  was  born  last  "took 
hold  on  Esau's  heel."  The  hairy  Esau  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  primitive  man,  of  carnal  man,  of  man  ir> 
the  Gentile  state;  he  is  the  representative  of  that  class 
t  i45 


146  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  men  who  sacrifice  all  for  carnal  pleasures,  worldly 
renown,  and  material  things.  Jacob  is  the  representa- 
tive of  the  spiritual  man,  the  man  who  lives  above  the 
spirit  of  the  world,  and  who  is  controlled  of  conscience 
and  reason. 

"Mine  own  familiar  friend  in  whom  I  trusted,  which 
did  eat  of  my  bread,  hath  lifted  up  his  heel  against  me. 
But  thou,  O  Lord,  be  merciful  unto  me,  and  raise  me 
up,  that  I  may  requite  them  [that  I  may  overcome  and 
pacify  them].  By  this  I  shall  know  that  thou  favorest 
me,  because  mine  enemy  doth  not  triumph  over  me" 
(Ps.  41 :  9-11).  In  this  story  of  Jacob,  we  shall  see  how 
God  doth  "raise  him  up, "  and  how  it  is  that  he  became 
the  master  of  Esau  and  his  descendants,  the  sensuous 
Edomites.  The  psychological  process  by  which  God 
"raised  Jacob  up"  and  made  him  the  master  of  his 
sensuous  brother  is  described  and  illustrated  in  the 
Scriptures  in  a  unique  way.  This  symbol  of  Jacob 
holding  Esau's  heel,  tells  the  story  of  the  envy  and 
malice  of  the  conceited  animalized  man  toward  his 
more  highly  evolved  brother;  and  it  would  have  us 
know  that  he  who  is  controlled  of  conscience  and 
reason  is  heaven's  appointed  teacher  and  master  of  his 
bloody  and  warlike  brother;  but  he  who  would  exercise 
this  mastery  must  attain  to  a  high  and  holy  state  of 
consciousness.  "And  God  said  unto  Jacob,  Arise,  go 
up  to  Bethel,  and  dwell  there"  (Gen.  35:  i). 

Frederick  Denison  Maurice  in  his  book,  The  Religions 
of  the  World,  says:  "There  is  a  tendency  in  man  to 
become  purely  animal,  and  there  is  a  race  of  men  in 
which  this  tendency  is  realized  and  perpetuated;  there 
is  in  man  that  which  may  be  raised  to  fellowship  with 
the  Divine;  and  there  is  a  race  in  which  this  capacity 
is  exhibited  and  transmitted."  The  story  of  Esau 


The  Story  of  Jacob  147 

and  Jacob  is  the  story  of  the  animal  man  who  sacrifices 
all  for  the  gratification  of  his  carnal  desires;  and  of 
him  who  is  "raised  to  fellowship  with  the  Divine." 
Esau,  the  animal  man,  is  the  victim  of  envy,  lust, 
hypocrisy,  falsehood,  superstition,  malice,  revenge,  and 
murder;  he  loves  violence  and  war.  Jacob  stands  for 
restraint  and  order;  he  stands  for  a  life  governed  of 
reason  and  conscience;  and  his  life  points  the  way, 
the  psychological  process,  whereby  the  human  nature 
of  man  triumphs  over  his  animal  nature.  Emerson, 
like  all  the  wise,  tells  us  in  his  essay  denominated 
History  that  "Men  and  women  are  only  half  human"; 
and  that  it  is  the  first  duty  of  man  to  cultivate  the 
human  and  to  awe  the  beast. 

"And  the  boys  grew:  and  Esau  was  a  cunning  hunter, 
a  man  of  the  field ;  and  Jacob  was  a  plain  man  dwelling 
in  tents.  And  Isaac  loved  Esau,  because  he  did  eat  of 
his  venison,  but  Rebekah  loved  Jacob"  (Gen.  25:27, 
28).  The  great  are  they  who  live  the  simple  life; 
"and  Jacob  was  a  plain  man  dwelling  in  tents."  How 
good  it  is  to  live  the  simple  life,  and  to  feel  that  all  men 
are  brothers. 

Tis  perchance 

Unknown  to  you  that  in  these  simple  vales 
The  natural  feeling  of  equality, 
Is  by  domestic  service  unimpaired. 

WORDSWORTH. 

"And  Isaac  loved  Esau  because  he  did  eat  of  his 
venison,  but  Rebekah  loved  Jacob."  In  the  symbolism 
of  the  Scriptures, the  wife  ordinarily  is  the  representative 
of  her  husband's  affections.  It  would  appear,  therefore, 
that  Isaac  in  an  outward  and  bodily  sense  was  fond  of 
Esau,  but  that  in  the  depths  of  his  spiritual  nature,  in 


148  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

his  heart,  he  loved  Jacob.  Isaac  loved  Esau  for  his 
venison ;  but  Jacob  for  what  he  was,  and  for  the  promise 
of  greatness  that  his  life  portended.  "And  Isaac  was 
three  score  years  old  when  Rebekah  bare  Esau  and 
Jacob"  (Gen.  25:26).  The  number  three  when  used 
in  a  psychological  sense  is  indicative  of  perfection; 
Isaac,  it  would  seem,  had  attained  to  a  fullness  and 
completeness  of  character  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  his 
sons;  and  like  his  father  Abraham,  he  is  the  father  of 
two  nations.  Now  it  is  said  that  "Esau  sold  his 
birthright  to  Jacob,"  for  bread  and  pottage.  This  is 
the  ever-recurring  story  of  the  carnal  man  who  sells, 
who  sacrifices  the  blessings  of  heaven  for  the  gratifi- 
cation of  his  carnal  desires.  "Therefore  was  Esau's 
name  called  Edom"  (Gen.  25:30).  The  name  Edom 
means  red,  bloody,  earthly. 

In  the  twenty-seventh  chapter  of  Genesis,  is  an 
account  of  Isaac  communicating  his  blessing  to  Jacob. 
According  to  a  literal  interpretation  of  this  chapter, 
it  would  seem  that  Isaac  intended  to  bestow  his  bless- 
ing on  Esau;  but  due  to  a  ruse  planned  by  Rebekah, 
the  blessing  went  to  Jacob.  When  we  contemplate  the 
nature  of  this  blessing,  it  is  entirely  apparent  that  the 
blessing  belonged  to  Jacob  pursuant  to  Heaven's  Law, 
and  not  to  Esau.  Esau  was  incapable  of  inheriting 
the  blessing  of  his  father;  no  one  is  cheated  out  of  that 
which  he  is  incapable  of  receiving.  "Isaac  was  old, 
and  his  eyes  were  dim,  so  that  he  could  not  see" 
(Gen.  27:  i) ;  but  we  do  not  understand  from  this  that 
Isaac's  character  had  suffered  any  diminution;  Isaac 
though  old  was  still  an  upright  soul;  his  character  was 
free  from  blemish;  he  was  the  fit  ancestor  of  an  holy 
nation.  Character  is  communicable  from  him  who  has 
it  to  him  who  is  prepared  to  receive  it.  Isaac's  blessing 


The  Story  of  Jacob  149 

was  an  invocation,  a  prayer,  that  his  own  character, 
and  the  character  of  his  father  might  be  realized  and 
perpetuated,  and  made  fruitful,  in  the  life  of  his  son, 
and  in  his  son's  posterity  forever.  "Character  is 
reserved  force  which  acts  directly  by  its  presence,  and 
without  means, "  said  Emerson.  Heaven  does  not  give 
man  light  and  power  except  upon  the  condition  that 
he  use  it  for  the  salvation  of  others. 

Heaven  doth  with  us  as  we  with  torches  do, 
Not  light  them  for  ourselves;  for  if  our  virtues 
Did  not  go  forth  of  us,  'twere  all  alike 
As  if  we  had  them  not. 

Measure  for  Measure. 

The  just  and  upright  soul  of  Isaac  was  an  organ  of 
the  Holy  Spirit;  and  it  was,  therefore,  possible  for 
Isaac  to  communicate  a  blessing  to  any  one  who  was 
prepared  to  receive  it.  "Not  by  virtue  of  material 
strength  and  political  power  shall  ye  prevail,  but  by 
my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord"  (Zech.  4:6).  "I  am  the 
Lord  that  do  work  Love,  Justice,  and  Righteousness; 
for  in  these  things  I  delight,  saith  the  Lord"  Qer. 
9:24).  The  Spirit  of  Life,  and  Truth,  and  Love  is 
communicable;  the  benediction  of  the  just  carries  with 
it  a  mighty  blessing.  The  just  are  both  voluntarily 
and  involuntarily  effluent  of  blessings:  of  life,  truth, 
and  love;  and  the  corrupt  and  debauched  are  effluent 
of  curses;  of  sin,  sickness,  and  death.  It  is  written 
that  Abimelech,  and  one  of  his  friends,  and  the  chief 
captain  of  his  army  visited  Isaac,  "And  they  said, 
We  saw  certainly  that  the  Lord  was  with  thee :  and  we 
said,  Let  there  be  now  an  oath  betwixt  us,  even  betwixt 
us  and  thee,  and  let  us  make  a  covenant  with  thee" 
(Gen.  26:26-29).  This  is  intended  to  teach,  and 


15°  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

does  teach,  that  Abimelech,  his  friend,  and  his  chief 
captain  sought  a  blessing  and  benediction  at  the  hand 
of  Isaac. 

The  blessing  of  the  just  was  administered  in  Israel 
to  the  end  that  the  name,  the  character  of  the  man  of 
God,  might  be  transmitted  to  the  remotest  generations. 
God  puts  His  Spirit  into  the  soul  of  man ;  and  to  the 
extent  that  man  is  just  and  upright,  he  is  the  organ  of 
the  Holy  Spirit;  and  the  Spirit  of  God  in  man  is  com- 
municable to  others  who  are  desirous  and  willing  to 
be  just.  Jacob,  surnamed  Israel,  laid  his  hands  upon 
the  heads  of  the  sons  of  Joseph,  and  prayed  that  his 
name,  his  character,  and  the  character  of  his  ancestors, 
might  be  realized  and  perpetuated  in  them.  "Let 
my  name  be  on  them,  and  the  name  of  my  fathers 
Abraham  and  Isaac"  (Gen.  48:  1 6).  It  is  written,  that 
' '  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  was  full  of  the  Spirit  of  Wisdom, 
for  Moses  had  laid  his  hands  upon  him"  (Deut.  34:  9). 
Elisha  said  unto  Elijah,  "I  pray  thee,  let  a  double 
portion  of  thy  spirit  be  upon  me"  (2  Kings  2:9,  15). 
"Virtue  went  out  of  him  and  healed  them  all"  (Luke 
6: 19). 

Man  communicates  what  he  has.  A  wicked  man  is 
effluent  of  sin,  sickness,  and  death;  the  just  man  is 
effluent  of  life,  and  of  truth,  and  of  love.  "I  am  come 
that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they  might  have 
it  more  abundantly"  (John  10:  10).  We  believe  that 
the  effluence  of  the  individual  man  for  either  good  or 
evil,  and  of  which  he  is  entirely  unconscious,  is  incom- 
parably more  conducive  to  good  or  evil  than  what  he 
may  voluntarily  say  and  do;  therefore,  the  necessity 
of  a  just  and  virtuous  life.  Such  a  life  even  in  the 
absence  of  spoken  words  and  overt  acts,  carries  untold 
blessings  to  others.  Horace  Bushnell  (Sermons  on 


The  Story  of  Jacob  151 

the  New  Life}  when  discoursing  on  the  subject,  "Un- 
conscious Influence,"  said:  "I  believe  that  the  insensible 
influences  of  good  men  are  as  much  more  potent  than 
what  I  call  their  voluntary  and  active,  as  the  great 
silent  powers  of  nature  are  of  greater  consequence  than 
her  little  disturbances  and  tumults."  Little  do  we 
comprehend  the  appalling  consequences  of  an  evil  life ; 
and  how  little  do  we  know  of  the  divine  and  godlike 
possibilities  of  a  just  and  virtuous  life.  How  dreadful 
it  is  for  one  to  go  among  his  fellows  exhaling  inharmony, 
disease,  and  death;  and  how  unspeakably  glorious  and 
divine  it  is  for  one  to  communicate  involuntarily  the 
blessings  of  Heaven  to  every  one  desirous  of  good  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact. 

Isaac  when  he  ate  Esau's  venison  was  acting  the 
part  of  the  outer  Isaac;  but  when  he  communicated  his 
blessing,  when  he  sought  to  communicate  his  character 
to  his  son,  and  to  his  son's  posterity  forever,  he  was 
acting  the  part  of  the  inner  Isaac.  In  a  word,  when  he 
sought  to  communicate  Heaven's  blessing,  he  was 
"turned  into  another  man"  (i  Sam.  10:6).  Esau, 
when  he  learned  that  Jacob  had  received  the  blessing, 
"cried  with  a  great  and  exceeding  bitter  cry"  (Gen. 
2  7 : 34)  and  invoked  a  blessing  of  his  father,  and 
complained  that  Jacob  had  supplanted  him.  It  is  the 
decree  of  Heaven  that  he  who  lives  the  spiritual  life 
shall  supplant  him  who  lives  the  carnal.  "And  Isaac 
answered  and  said  unto  Esau,  Behold,  I  have  made 
him  thy  lord,  and  all  his  brethren  have  I  given  him  for 
servants";  and  thus  Heaven's  blessing  goes  unerringly 
to  the  rightful  heir.  This  prayer,  this  blessing  was 
fulfilled;  for  it  is  written,  "and  all  they  of  Edom  became 
David's  servants"  (2  Sam.  8: 14).  Thus  we  have  the 
survival  of  the  fittest.  Isaac  consoles  Esau  by  telling 


152  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

him  that  he  shall  enjoy  "the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and 
by  the  sword  shalt  thou  live ' '  (Gen.  27 :  38,  39) .  These 
are  things  especially  pleasing  to  an  Esau.  But  the 
state  of  the  sensuous  and  warlike  Esau  is  not  hopeless ; 
for  Isaac  said,  "and  it  shall  come  to  pass  when  thou 
shalt  have  dominion,  that  thou  shalt  break  his  yoke 
from  off  thy  neck"  (Gen.  27:40);  but  it  should  be 
remembered  that  the  dominion  here  spoken  of  is  the 
dominion  born  of  virtue;  the  dominion  of  reason. 

It  is  planned  that  Jacob  shall  go  on  a  journey  to 
the  home  of  his  maternal  grandfather,  that  he  may 
escape  the  violence  of  his  brother  Esau,  surnamed 
Edom,  and  that  he  may  not  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters 
of  Canaan.  The  sensualist  is  not  careful  to  do  those 
things  that  conserve  the  welfare  either  of  himself  or  of 
society;  he  is  not  careful  to  select  a  wife  who  is  fit  to  be 
the  mother  of  children.  License  and  self-indulgence  he 
calls  freedom.  And  Esau  was  forty  years  old  when 
he  took  to  wife  two  of  the  daughters  of  the  Hittites. 
' '  Which  were  a  grief  of  mind  unto  Isaac  and  to  Rebekah" 
(Gen.  26:35).  The  sensualist  does  not  know  enough 
to  know  that  license  and  carnal  indulgence  spell 
bondage,  limitation,  and  death;  and  that  restraint  and 
virtue  spell  enlargement  of  life  and  liberty.  The 
sensualist  does  not  know  that  limitation,  sin,  sickness, 
and  death  obtain  in  the  kingdom  of  the  animal  world; 
that  freedom,  enlargement,  and  power  belong  essentially 
to  the  spiritual  kingdom  that  transcends  the  animal; 
that  man  must  die  to  the  lower  kingdom  to  be  born 
into  the  higher;  and  that  all  of  the  great  teachers  and 
masters  have  taught  this.  Man  must  be  lifted  up 
above  the  carnal  plane  of  consciousness,  if  he  would 
realize  the  larger  life,  the  life  of  freedom  and  power; 
he  must  be  lifted  up  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in 


The  Story  of  Jacob  153 

the  wilderness.  Water  is  a  symbol  of  the  sensuous 
life.  "Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God" 
(John  3:  5). 

The  ostensible  reason  for  the  journey  of  Jacob  to 
the  home  of  his  mother's  father  is  to  escape  the  violence 
of  the  warlike  Esau,  and  that  he  may  find  a  suitable 
wife;  but  in  truth  the  real  reason  is  psychological; 
for  in  this  story  of  Jacob's  journey  to  "the  land  of  the 
people  of  the  east,"  we  discover  the  process  whereby 
God  doth  "raise  him  up, "  the  process  whereby  his  soul 
is  made  perfect.  And  when  the  time  comes  for  Jacob 
to  depart  on  his  journey  that  meant  so  much  to  him, 
and  to  his  posterity,  Isaac  again  invokes  the  blessing 
of  Heaven  upon  him.  "And  God  Almighty  bless  thee, 
and  make  thee  fruitful,  and  multiply  thee,  that  thou 
mayst  be  a  multitude  of  people.  And  give  thee  the 
blessing  of  Abraham,  to  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  with  thee ; 
that  thou  mayest  inherit  the  land  wherein  thou  art  a 
stranger,  which  God  gave  unto  Abraham"  (Gen.  28:  3, 
4).  The  land  that  God  gave  to  Abraham,  and  to 
which  Jacob  is  now  a  stranger,  is  the  land  that  God 
gives  to  all  the  faithful ;  it  is  the  home  of  the  elect ;  for 
it  is  in  truth  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Jacob  proceeds  upon  his  journey.  "And  he  lighted 
upon  a  certain  place,  and  tarried  there  all  night,  because 
the  sun  was  set."  This  was  a  dark  and  sad  experience 
for  Jacob;  he  sleeps  with  his  head  upon  a  stone;  and 
as  he  thus  slept,  he  dreamed  of  a  ladder  that  extended 
from  heaven  to  earth  and  the  angels  of  God  were 
ascending  and  descending  upon  it;  and  the  Lord  stood 
above  it,  and  said,  ' '  I  am  the  Lord  God  of  Abraham  thy 
father,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  the  land  whereon  thou 
liest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed."  Jacob  is 


154  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

now  promised  that  inheritance  which  goes  to  all  the  just. 
This  recalls  the  first  sentences  of  Emerson's  memorable 
essay  on  History:  "There  is  One  Mind  common  to  all 
individual  men.  Every  man  is  an  inlet  to  the  same 
and  to  all  of  the  same.  He  that  is  once  admitted  to 
the  right  of  reason  is  made  a  freeman  of  the  whole 
estate."  Jacob  is  now  promised  the  guidance,  the 
protection,  and  the  blessings  of  heaven,  and  thus  the 
prayers  of  his  father  are  being  fulfilled  in  him.  "And 
Jacob  woke  out  of  his  sleep  .  .  .  and  was  afraid,  and 
said,  How  dreadful  is  this  place!  this  is  none  other  but 
the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven.  .  .  . 
And  Jacob  vowed  a  vow."  Jacob  called  the  name  of 
this  place  Bethel,  which  means  "the  house  of  God"; 
but  this  place  was  called  Luz  at  the  first ;  the  word  Luz 
means  separation,  or  departure.  Jacob  has  experienced 
a  psychological  change;  he  has  attained  to  a  state  of 
intuition ;  the  angels  of  God  are  ascending  and  descend- 
ing; he  is  conscious  of  the  divine  presence  as  never 
before.  "How  dreadful  is  this  place!  this  is  none 
other  but  the  house  of  God."  Jacob  vowed  a  vow;  he 
is  repentant;  he  is  in  Luz;  he  has  determined  on  a 
separation,  or  departure  from  his  past  life;  his  life  is 
dreadfully  serious;  he  has  turned  his  back  upon  the 
comforts  of  the  world ;  he  sleeps  with  his  head  upon  a 
stone;  he  is  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner  on  earth;  he 
realizes  that  there  is  but  one  course  to  pursue ;  and  that 
is  to  put  his  trust  in  the  Lord  God  of  his  fathers ;  to  be 
just  as  they  were  just.  He  knows  that  his  fathers 
attained  to  power,  and  wisdom,  and  greatness  far  be- 
yond their  fellows;  and  why  should  not  he  follow  in 
their  footsteps,  and  become  a  "freeman  of  the  whole 
estate,"  as  did  they? 

The  journey  is  continued;  Jacob  comes  to  the  land 


The  Story  of  Jacob  155 

of  the  people  of  the  east ;  he  beholds  a  well  in  the  field, 
and  three  flocks  of  sheep  lying  by  it ;  and  a  great  stone 
is  upon  the  well's  mouth;  and  they  of  this  land  are  of 
Haran.  "And  Jacob  said  unto  them,  My  brethren, 
whence  be  ye?  And  they  said,  Of  Haran  are  we" 
(Gen.  29:4).  Rachel,  the  daughter  of  Laban,  came 
to  this  well  with  her  father's  sheep :  "for  she  kept  them." 
A  well  is  a  symbol  of  knowledge;  Jacob  is  receptive 
of  the  higher  knowledge ;  he  is  inspirational ;  he  rolls  the 
stone  from  the  well's  mouth,  and  waters  the  flock  of 
Laban,  his  mother's  brother.  He  is  a  dispenser  of 
knowledge.  He  found  three  flocks  lying  by  the  well. 
Three  is  a  number  indicative  of  perfection.  Jacob, 
like  all  who  are  led  out  of  Haran,  and  are  established  in 
the  promised  land,  like  all  who  attain  to  perfection, 
must  undergo  severe  discipline;  for  nothing  is  truer 
than  that  man  is  made  perfect  by  suffering.  "Ye 
shall  drink  indeed  of  my  cup,  and  be  baptized  with  the 
baptism  that  I  am  baptized  with"  (Matt.  20:  23). 

Laban  has  two  daughters;  the  elder  was  Leah;  and 
the  younger  was  Rachel.  "Leah  was  tender-eyed;  but 
Rachel  was  beautiful  and  well-favoured"  (Gen.  29:  17). 
Leah  was  good-hearted ;  but  Rachel  was  wise.  The  wise 
are  the  keepers  of  the  sheep.  Rachel  kept  her  father's 
flock  (Gen.  29:  9).  And  Jacob  loved  Rachel;  and  said 
unto  Laban,  "I  will  serve  thee  seven  years  for  Rachel 
thy  younger  daughter."  Jacob  served  seven  years  for 
Rachel,  but  was  given  Leah;  and  when  Jacob  accused 
Laban  of  deceiving  him,  Laban  said,  "It  must  not  be 
done  in  our  country,  to  give  the  younger  before  the 
first-born"  the  heart,  the  affections,  the  life  of  the 
individual,  must  undergo  severe  discipline,  before  reason 
attains  to  its  own ;  Leah  represents  a  disciplined  heart. 
And  Jacob  served  "yet  seven  other  years"  for  Rachel. 


156  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Leah  is  the  mother  of  four  sons:  Reuben,  Simeon, 
Levi,  and  Judah,  and  then  it  is  said  that  her  powers  of 
maternity  failed;  then  two  sons  are  born  to  Jacob  by 
Rachel's  maid,  Billah;  Dan  and  Naphtali;  and  two  by 
Leah's  maid,  Zilpah :  Gad  and  Asher;  and  after  the  birth 
of  the  sons  named,  Leah's  power  of  maternity  recurs, 
and  she  becomes  the  mother  of  two  more  sons :  Issachar 
and  Zebulun,  and  lastly,  of  a  daughter,  Dinah;  and 
after  this  the  prayers  of  the  beautiful  and  well-favored 
Rachel  were  answered;  and  she  becomes  the  mother 
of  Joseph,  who  became  the  mighty  prince,  and  master 
of  Egypt. 

According  to  the  narrative  in  chapters  twenty-nine 
and  thirty  of  Genesis,  Jacob  is  the  father  of  eleven  sons 
and  a  daughter  while  living  in  Haran  in  Mesopotamia. 
Jacob  is  represented  as  living  in  a  desert  land,  the 
dwelling-place  of  a  shifting  tribal  population.  It  is 
here  that  Jacob's  education  begins,  the  education  that 
is  to  "raise  him  up"  out  of  a  lower  state  of  conscious- 
ness into  a  higher.  "God  found  Jacob  in  a  desert 
land,  in  the  waste  howling  wilderness ;  he  led  him  about, 
he  instructed  him,  he  kept  him  as  the  apple  of  his 
eye"  (Deut.  32:  10).  This  story  of  Jacob  living  in  a 
desert,  and  of  his  wives  and  their  maids,  and  of  his 
several  sons  and  a  daughter  born  in  the  order  narrated, 
evidently  has  a  more  profound  meaning  than  appears 
upon  its  face.  This  story  is  outwardly  historic;  but 
in  its  depth  it  is  psychological.  This  story  describes 
a  process;  and  it  is  told  in  this  singular  way  for  the 
express  purpose  of  showing  the  mode  and  manner 
whereby  the  soul  of  man  is  made  perfect.  God  who 
made  man  in  His  own  image  and  likeness  made  him 
capable  of  attaining  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection, 
through  successive  gradations  of  improvement,  in  an 


The  Story  of  Jacob  157 

ascending  life.  Paul  speaks  of  man's  development  from 
"character  to  character";  and  when  speaking  of  the 
human  soul,  the  inward  and  abiding,  he  says:  "The 
inward  man  is  renewed  day  by  day."  Character 
building  involves  an  orderly  process.  Evolution,  said 
Charles  Darwin,  proceeds  by  "numerous,  successive, 
and  slight  modifications." 

In  Deuteronomy  (21:  15-17),  it  is  written  that  if  a 
man  have  two  wives,  one  beloved  and  the  other  hated, 
and  they  have  borne  him  children,  then  when  he 
maketh  his  sons  to  inherit,  the  sons  of  her  who  is  hated 
are  to  be  preferred.  The  Levites,  the  descendants 
of  the  third  son  of  Leah,  were  preferred  in  the  days  of 
Moses,  and  the  descendants  of  Judah  became  a  mighty 
power  in  Israel.  Why  are  the  sons  of  the  wife  who  is 
hated  to  be  preferred  ?  The  reason  is  evidently  psycho- 
logical. In  the  unfoldment  of  the  powers  of  the  soul  of 
man,  the  heart  is  first  to  find  enlargement.  "God  shall 
enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem, 
and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant"  (Gen.  9:27).  This 
we  would  interpret:  the  heart,  the  feelings  shall  find 
virtuous  enlargement,  but  the  heart  shall  be  governed 
of  the  head ;  and  the  head  and  heart  shall  have  absolute 
dominion  over  the  lower  principle  of  the  soul  repre- 
sented by  Canaan.  A  virtuous  heart  is  forever  the 
faithful  ally  of  a  wise  head.  Heinrich  Heine,  a  thought- 
ful and  observant  Jew,  who  did  what  he  could  to 
liberalize  the  thought  of  Europe,  said:  "The  Jews 
have  highly  civilized  hearts  in  an  unbroken  tradition 
for  two  thousand  years.  I  believe  they  acquire  the 
culture  of  Europe  so  quickly  because  they  have 
nothing  to  learn  in  the  matter  of  feeling,  and  read 
only  to  gain  knowledge."  Coleridge,  in  his  Aids 
to  Reflection,  says:  "The  especial  aim  and  charac- 


158  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

teristic  operation  of   Christianity  is   to  moralize  the 
affections." 

Rachel  and  Leah,  who  represent  the  head  and  heart 
of  Jacob,  vie  with  each  other  as  to  which  shall  render 
him  the  better  service.  This  service  is  represented 
in  child-bearing.  The  heart,  the  seat  of  the  feminine 
virtues,  realizes  true  blessedness  in  devotion,  in  self- 
sacrifice,  in  maternity.  Leah  is  the  first  to  bear 
children;  she  is  the  first  to  call  upon  heaven  to  witness 
her  suffering  and  affliction.  "Surely  the  Lord  hath 
looked  upon  my  affliction;  now  therefore  my  husband 
will  love  me"  (Gen.  29:32).  The  husband  of  the 
human  heart  is  the  mind;  and  when  the  heart  undergoes 
great  suffering,  the  mind  is  awakened  to  virtuous  action. 
"Rachel  was  barren";  but  her  suffering  sister  moves 
her  to  virtuous  action;  she  presents  Jacob  with  her 
maid,  Billah,  by  whom  he  has  two  sons;  and  at  the 
birth  of  the  second  Rachel  declares  herself  the  master 
of  her  sister.  "And  Rachel  said,  With  great  wrestlings 
have  I  wrestled  with  my  sister,  and  I  have  prevailed: 
and  she  called  his  name  Naphtali"  (Gen.  30:  8).  The 
name  Naphtali  means  that  which  struggles,  or  wrestles 
for  supremacy.  Reason  is  ascendant;  it  has  gained  a 
victory  over  the  heart.  But  Leah,  who  ceased  bearing 
after  the  birth  of  Judah,  does  not  slacken  her  endeavors 
to  be  of  use  to  her  husband;  for  she  presents  Jacob 
with  her  maid,  Zilpah,  by  whom  Jacob  has  two  sons; 
and  at  the  birth  of  the  second  Leah  declares  her- 
self happy.  "And  Leah  said,  Happy  am  I,  for  the 
daughters  will  call  me  blessed,  and  she  called  his  name 
Asher"  (Gen.  30:  13).  The  soul  of  man  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  as  a  daughter.  "Rejoice 
greatly,  0  daughter  of  Zion"  (Zech.  9:9;  Isa.  62:  u). 
"The  daughters  will  call  me  blessed."  Leah  is  happy 


The  Story  of  Jacob  159 

because  she  is  doing  all  she  can  to  make  perfect  the  soul 
of  Jacob.  ' '  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart :  for  they  shall 
see  God"  (Matt.  5:8). 

The  story  of  Jacob's  wives  presents  a  unique  study 
in  psychology.  Perhaps,  there  is  a  no  more  effective 
way  to  describe  and  illustrate  the  nature  of  the  human 
soul,  and  the  manner  of  its  development,  than  that  set 
forth  in  this  marvelous  allegory.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  this  story  is  intended  to  describe  the  ' '  hidden 
man,"  the  "inward  man,"  and  the  process  of  his  de- 
velopment. Moreover,  it  should  also  be  remembered 
that  this  inner  man  is  forever  revealing  himself  in  knowl- 
edge and  feeling,  perception  and  sensation. 

The  Hebrew  Scriptures  again  and  again  tell  the 
story  of  the  human  soul  as  nearly  in  the  terms  of  the 
concrete  as  would  seem  possible ;  and  it  stands  to  reason 
that  this  is  the  best  way  to  awaken  an  interest  in  the 
hidden  truths  of  human  nature  and  to  impress  them  on 
the  mind.  Herbert  Spencer,  who  wrote  the  preface  to 
F.  Howard  Collins'  book,  An  Epitome  of  the  Synthetic 
Philosophy,  made  this  observation:  "A  long  series  of 
abstract  propositions,  taken  without  concrete  illustra- 
tions, is  likely  to  prove  wearisome,  and  to  leave  but 
faint  impressions." 

Rachel  and  Leah  are  represented  as  incapable  of 
bearing  children  during  the  time  that  children  are 
born  of  their  maids.  The  maids,  it  would  seem,  repre- 
sent man  on  the  plane  of  the  lower  principle  of  the 
human  soul;  for  they  and  their  children  are  governed 
absolutely  of  Rachel  and  Leah;  this  is  a  reasonable 
inference,  since  Rachel  and  Leah  own  these  maids  and 
give  names  to  their  children.  In  a  word,  the  head 
and  heart  own  and  control  their  maids,  their  servants ; 
and  while  these  maids  are  being  taught  obedience  and 


160  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

temperance,  Rachel  and  Leah  bare  no  children. 
Broadly  speaking,  what  does  this  singular  allegory, 
outwardly  historic,  but  inwardly  psychological, 
teach?  It  teaches  that  the  human  soul  is  com- 
posed of  three  principles;  that  the  two  higher  prin- 
ciples should  control  and  master  the  lower  absolutely; 
that  each  of  these  principles  has  its  proper  and 
legitimate  office,  and  that  human  greatness  consists 
in  bringing  these  principles  into  a  state  of  unity  and 
harmony. 

Concord  within  the  soul  of  man,  says  Plato,  is  born 
of  the  harmony  of  its  principles.  He  observes  that 
when  these  are  brought  into  a  state  of  unity,  then  the 
soul  "becomes  one  entirely  temperate  and  perfectly 
adjusted  nature";  and  this  he  likens  to  that  harmony 
that  may  exist  between  the  higher,  lower,  and  the 
middle  notes  in  the  scale  of  music. 

William  Ellery  Channing,  like  many  of  the  wise, 
had  much  to  say  about  unity  and  concord  within  the 
soul  of  man. 

The  human  soul  [says  he]  has  a  unity.  Its  various 
faculties  are  adapted  to  one  another.  One  life  pervades 
it;  and  its  beauty,  strength,  and  growth  depend  upon 
nothing  so  much,  as  on  the  harmony  and  joint  action  of  all 
its  principles.  To  wound  and  degrade  it  in  any  of  its  powers, 
and  especially  in  the  noble  and  distinguishing  power  of 
reason,  is  to  inflict  on  it  universal  injury.  .  .  .  The  soul 
never  acts  so  effectually  or  joyfully,  as  when  all  of  its  powers 
and  affections  conspire;  as  when  thought  and  feeling,  reason 
and  sensibility,  are  called  forth  together  by  one  great  and 
kindling  object.  It  will  never  devote  itself  to  God  with 
its  whole  energy,  whilst  its  guiding  faculty  sees  in  Him  a 
being  to  shock  and  confound  it.  We  want  a  harmony  in 
our  inward  nature. 


The  Story  of  Jacob  161 

Rachel  and  Leah,  who  so  faithfully  represent  the 
mind  and  heart  of  Jacob,  never  slacken  their  virtuous 
endeavors;  they  are  equally  faithful  before  heaven; 
they  each  invoke  the  blessing  of  God  to  the  end  that 
they  may  render  Jacob  a  more  perfect  service.  Leah's 
prayers  are  first  answered.  "And  God  hearkened 
unto  Leah,  and  she  bare  Jacob  a  fifth  son  .  .  .  and  she 
called  his  name  Issachar, "  and  she  also  bare  Jacob  a 
sixth  son,  and  she  called  his  name  Zebulun,  and  lastly 
a  daughter  whom  she  named  Dinah.  The  heart,  it 
would  seem,  has  well-nigh  completed  its  work.  Leah 
has  borne  Jacob  six  sons.  The  number  six  when  used 
in  a  psychological  sense,  represents  all  the  states  of 
labor,  emulation,  and  contest,  that  precedes  the  coming 
of  perfect  rest  and  peace;  for  seven  represents  perfection. 
It  is  now  that  Rachel  attains  to  her  own;  for  to  her  is 
born  the  seventh  legitimate  son  of  Jacob.  "God  hath 
taken  away  her  reproach"  (Gen.  30:23).  "And  it 
came  to  pass,  when  Rachel  had  born  Joseph,  that 
Jacob  said  unto  Laban,  Send  me  away,  that  I  may  go 
unto  mine  own  place,  and  to  my  country"  (Gen.  30: 
25).  With  the  birth  of  Joseph  comes  the  independence 
of  Jacob.  The  rivalry  between  Rachel  and  Leah  ends 
with  this  event;  reason  has  attained  to  its  own,  and  is 
entitled  to  govern;  for  this  is  its  office.  The  name 
Joseph  means  increase,  or  addition.  "Of  the  increase 
of  his  government  and  peace,  there  shall  be  no  end" 

(Isa.9:7). 

The  unfoldment  of  the  soul  of  man,  says  Paul, 
proceeds  "from  character  to  character."  The  unfold- 
ment of  Jacob's  soul,  and  of  every  human  soul  which 
has  attained  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection,  is  told  in 
the  story  of  Jacob.  Jacob's  sons  by  his  wives  repre- 
sent successive  gradations  of  improvement.  Reuben, 


1 62  ,          The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  name  of  the  first-born  son  of  Jacob,  means  "Behold 
a  son,"  behold,  the  dawn  of  the  masculine  principle 
of  reason;  Simeon,  hearing  and  obeying;  Levi,  associa- 
tion, or  unity;  Judah,  confession,  or  praise  of  God; 
Issachar,  reward  or  recompense;  Zebulun,  dwelling, 
or  habitation,  that  which  represents  a  settled  condition ; 
Joseph,  increase,  or  addition  that  knows  no  limit. 

Who  represents  the  beginning  of  the  dignity  and 
excellence  of  Jacob?  It  is  the  first-born  of  her  who 
was  hated.  "Reuben,  thou  art  my  first-born,  my 
might,  and  the  beginning  of  my  strength,  the  excellency 
of  dignity,  and  the  excellency  of  power"  (Gen.  49:3). 
If  Reuben  represents  Jacob's  star  at  its  horizon,  who 
represents  it  at  its  zenith?  Evidently,  Joseph,  the 
son  of  the  beautiful  and  well-favored  Rachel;  for  all  are 
required  to  do  obeisance  to  Joseph  (Gen.  37:7,  10; 
43:28).  The  wisdom  and  power  of  Jacob  finds  its 
fulfillment  in  Joseph;  and  when  Jacob  describes  the 
power  and  glory  of  Joseph,  he  likewise  describes  himself 
and  every  one  who  has  attained  to  perfection  of  life. 
Jacob's  eulogy  on  the  character  of  Joseph  is  a  master- 
piece; it  is  couched  in  five  verses,  and  contains  several 
profound  and  suggestive  figures  of  speech.  The  great- 
ness of  Jacob  found  fulfillment  in  the  character  of 
Joseph.  "The  blessings  of  thy  father  have  prevailed 
above  the  blessings  of  my  progenitors  unto  the  utmost 
bounds  of  the  everlasting  hills:  they  shall  be  on  the 
head  of  Joseph,  and  on  the  crown  of  the  head  of 
him  that  was  separated  from  his  brethren"  (Gen.  49: 
22-26). 

Jacob's  sons  by  Rachel's  maid  are  Dan  and  Naphtali. 
The  name  Dan  means  judgment,  or  he  who  judges; 
Naphtali,  he  who  wrestles,  or  struggles  for  supremacy. 
These  sons  represent  the  offices  of  the  mind.  "And 


The  Story  of  Jacob  163 

Rachel  said,  God  hath  judged  me,  and  hath  also  heard 
my  voice,  and  hath  given  me  a  son :  therefore  she  called 
his  name  Dan"  (Gen.  30:  6).  "God  hath  given  me  a 
son";  this  we  would  interpret:  God  hath  given  me  a 
mind ;  if  the  mind  would  prevail,  if  it  would  gain  domin- 
ion over  all  below  it,  it  must  wrestle  for  supremacy  until 
it  gains  the  victory ;  but  reason  before  it  attains  to 
wisdom  and  glory  must  be  represented,  not  by  a  bastard 
progeny,  but  by  its  own.  Plato  says  that  the  virtue 
of  reason  is  wisdom;  and  that  reason  is  the  measuring 
and  directing  virtue,  since  its  office  is  to  govern.  It 
may  be  said  that  Dan  and  Naphtali  represent  reason 
at  its  nadir,  the  reason  of  the  natural  man,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  spiritual  man. 

Jacob's  sons  by  Leah's  maid  are  Gad  and  Asher. 
The  name  Gad  means  company,  or  he  who  is  armed 
and  prepared ;  Asher,  blessedness,  or  happiness.  These 
sons  represent  the  offices  of  the  human  heart ;  the  offices 
of  the  heart  are  numerous;  they  area  troop,  or  company; 
and  when  the  affections  act  in  obedience  to  reason, 
they  are  armed  and  prepared  to  do  battle  on  the  side 
of  truth  and  justice.  Happiness  and  blessedness 
are  represented  in  purity  of  heart.  Plato  says  that 
the  virtue  of  the  heart  is  valor.  The  pure  in  heart 
know  no  fear.  "Virtue  is  bold;  and  goodness  never 
fearful,"  said  Shakespeare.  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart;  for  they  shall  see  God."  Plato  also  says  that 
temperance  is  the  virtue  by  which  the  sensuous  desires 
are  restrained  and  destroyed;  and  lastly,  that  justice 
is  the  virtue  that  represents  the  poise,  the  balance, 
the  perfection  of  the  human  soul.  But  it  would  seem 
that  the  sum  of  all  the  virtues  of  Leah's  sons,  and  the 
sons  of  the  maids  are  represented  in  the  character  of 
the  mighty  Joseph,  the  just  man  who  "ruled  over  all 


1 64  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  land  of  Egypt."  Joseph  was  a  master,  a  dis- 
penser of  the  bread  of  life.  "And  when  all  the  land  of 
Egypt  was  famished,  the  people  cried  to  Pharaoh  for 
bread,  and  Pharaoh  said  unto  the  Egyptians,  Go  unto 
Joseph;  what  he  saith  unto  you,  do"  (Gen.  41 :  55). 

Rachel  and  Leah,  the  representatives  of  Jacob's 
head  and  heart,  the  two  that  had  suffered  so  much  in  the 
dark  days  of  his  chastening  and  discipline,  and  who 
have  wrestled  with  each  other  that  they  might  render 
him  the  better  service,  are  faithful  in  every  trial.  They 
say  unto  Jacob,  "Whatsoever  God  hath  said  unto  thee, 
do"  (Gen.  31:16).  Jacob  has  determined  to  depart 
from  Laban  secretly,  and  to  go  "unto  his  own  place, 
to  his  country,"  to  that  country  that  God  has  promised 
to  all  the  faithful;  and  when  Laban  went  to  shear  his 
sheep,  Jacob  set  his  sons  and  wives  upon  camels,  and 
took  all  of  his  belongings,  and  stole  away  unawares 
to  Laban.  "So  he  fled  with  all  that  he  had;  and 
he  rose  up,  and  passed  over  the  river,  and  set  his  face 
toward  the  mount  Gilead.  And  it  was  told  Laban 
on  the  third  day  that  Jacob  was  fled.  And  Laban  took 
his  brethren  with  him,  and  pursued  after  him  seven 
days'  journey;  and  they  overtook  him  in  the  mount 
Gilead"  (Gen.  31 :  21-23). 

"When  the  children  of  Ammon  saw  that  they  had 
made  themselves  odious  to  David,  they  sent  a  thousand 
talents  of  silver  to  hire  them  chariots  and  horsemen  out 
of  Mesopotamia"  (i  Chron.  19:6).  According  to  the 
symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  it  would  seem,  that 
Mesopotamia  was  the  home  of  the  rebellious  and  war- 
like. "Woe  to  them  that  go  down  to  Egypt  for  help, 
and  stay  on  horses,  and  trust  in  chariots"  (Isa.  31 :  i). 
Jacob  is  escaping  out  of  Mesopotamia,  the  country 
between  the  rivers;  and  he  is  on  his  way  toward  a 


The  Story  of  Jacob  165 

land,  that  is  a  symbol  of  a  high  and  holy  state  of 
consciousness.  The  country  from  which  Jacob  is 
fleeing,  the  country  for  which  he  is  destined,  and  the 
place  where  he  has  pitched  his  tent,  are  suggestive. 
Jacob  has  made  great  progress;  he  has  attained  to  a 
high  degree  of  perfection;  and  he  is  soon  to  be  "turned 
into  another  man"  (i  Sam.  10:6);  he  has  attained  to 
the  "third  day,"  as  did  his  father  Abraham.  "Abra- 
ham saw  my  day  and  rejoiced"  (John  8:  56).  Laban 
was  told  that  Jacob  was  fled  on  the  "third  day,"  and 
he  pursued  after  him  a  "seven  days'  journey,"  and 
overtook  him  in  the  mount  Gilead,  the  mount  of 
testimony,  the  mount  of  truth. 

And  Jacob  continues  on  his  journey;  and  he  comes 
to  the  country  of  Edom,  the  land  of  Esau  and  his 
people,  the  home  of  the  luxurious  and  warlike.  "Thy 
dwelling  shall  be  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and  by  thy 
sword  shalt  thou  live"  (Gen.  27:39,  40).  The  people 
of  this  land,  the  people  who  abide  on  the  sensuous  plane 
of  consciousness,  are  doomed  to  certain  destruction 
(Isa.  34:5-8;  63:1-4;  Jer.  49:1?;  Ezek.  25:12-14; 
Amos  i:  10,  n).  Here  it  is  that  Jacob  finds  himself 
confronted  by  Esau,  and  four  hundred  men  with  him. 
Here  it  is  that  the  bloody,  the  sensuous,  the  animalized 
Esau,  with  his  four  hundred,  threatens  his  brother, 
and  those  of  his  household  with  utter  destruction. 
"Then  Jacob  was  greatly  afraid  and  distressed"  (Gen. 
32:7).  This  was  Jacob's  darkest  hour;  it  was  just 
before  dawn;  just  before  he  was  born  into  the  higher 
life.  He  prays  fervently  to  the  God  of  his  fathers,  and 
he  pleads  the  promises  that  the  God  of  his  fathers 
had  made  to  him  when  he  slept  with  his  head  upon  a 
rock  (Gen.  32:9-12);  and  in  the  dark  night  preceding 
the  day  that  he  was  to  meet  Esau,  with  his  four  hun- 


1 66  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

dred,  he  "was  left  alone;  and  there  wrestled  a  Man 
with  him  until  the  break  of  the  day"  (Gen.  32:24). 
This  Man  did  not  prevail  until  he  wounded  Jacob  in  the 
thigh;  he  did  not  prevail  until  he  dealt  the  animal 
nature  of  Jacob  a  deadly  thrust.  Then  did  reason, 
the  Man,  the  governing  principle  in  the  soul  of  Jacob, 
aided  by  its  natural  allies,  the  affections  of  a  righteous 
heart,  win  its  final  victory.  And  he  who  had  pre- 
vailed said:  "Thy  name  shall  be  called  no  more 
Jacob,  but  Israel :  for  as  a  prince  hast  thou  power  with 
God  and  with  men,  and  hast  prevailed"  (Gen.  32: -28). 
Reason  is  spiritual;  it  is  the  good  angel  that  "redeemed 
Jacob  from  all  evil"  (Gen.  48: 1 6). 

Jacob  is  raised  up;  he  is  resurrected  from  the  dead; 
he  is  consciously  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the 
kingdom  that  transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the 
world;  he  has  attained  to  the  " third  day, "  to  "my  day" 
(John  8 :  56) .  "And  Jacob  called  the  name  of  the  place 
Peniel:  for  I  have  seen  God  face  to  face,  and  my  life  is 
preserved"  (Gen.  32:30);  he  is  conscious  of  the  power 
that  God  has  put  upon  him;  he  is  conscious  that  he 
has  "power  with  God  and  with  men."  Jacob,  like  all 
the  truly  great,  is  "the  son  of  God  with  power,  according 
to  the  spirit  of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead"  (Rom.  1:4).  The  son  of  man,  the  mind  of  man, 
must  be  lifted  up  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the 
wilderness.  God  is  the  God  of  the  resurrected.  He 
is  the  God  of  those  who  are  consciously  related  to  his 
kingdom,  and  who  do  His  will.  "I  am  the  God  of 
Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob. 
God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living" 
(Matt.  22:  32).  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  fallen,  the 
sensuous,  and  the  dead,  but  of  those  who  are  lifted  up 
above  the  plane  of  the  carnal  and  sensuous  world. 


The  Story  of  Jacob  167 

Jacob  has  prevailed;  he  has  attained  to  the  eternal 
light,  the  light  that  shall  forever  find  enlargement. 
"And  as  Jacob  passed  over  Penuel  the  sun  rose  upon 
him"  (Gen.  32:31). 

When  this  man  of  God,  surnamed  Israel  (he  who  hath 
prevailed)  and  who  is  clothed  upon  with  Heaven's 
power,  goes  forth  to  meet  his  brother  Esau,  with  his 
four  hundred,  the  order  in  which  the  members  of  his 
family  march  is  significant.  "And  he  put  the  hand- 
maids and  their  children  foremost,  and  Leah  and  her 
children  after,  and  Rachel  and  Joseph  hindermost" 
(Gen.  33:  2).  This  is  the  order  of  the  evolution  of  the 
soul  of  man.  The  bondmaids  and  their  children  repre- 
sent the  primitive  state  of  man,  the  state  in  which  he 
is  governed  of  others,  the  state  in  which  he  is  governed 
from  without,  and  not  from  within;  Leah  and  her 
children,  an  intermediate  state  wherein  the  feelings 
and  emotions  vie  and  wrestle  with  the  mind  for  su- 
premacy; and  Rachel  and  Joseph,  the  state  wherein 
reason  has  attained  to  his  own,  the  state  wherein  man  is 
governed  from  within  and  not  from  without,  the  state 
wherein  conscience  and  reason  are  supreme. 

The  soul  of  man  must  undergo  long  and  wearisome 
discipline  to  the  end  that  the  affections  may  be  tamed 
and  humanized,  and  that  the  vestiges  of  animalism 
inhering  in  the  soul  may  be  conquered  and  destroyed. 
The  especial  aim  of  religion,  said  Coleridge,  "  is  to  moral- 
ize the  affections."  It  is  said  that  Jacob  served  seven 
years  for  the  fair  Rachel,  and  was  rewarded  for  his 
services  with  the  tender-eyed  Leah;  and  that  Jacob 
served  "yet  another  seven  years,"  for  the  well-favored 
Rachel.  "Seven  years,"  is  a  phrase  used  not  to 
describe  seven  actual  years,  but  to  designate  a  period 
of  trial  and  discipline,  and  suffering  through  which 


1 68  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  soul  of  man  must  necessarily  pass  in  the  process 
of  its  evolution  from  a  low  carnal  state  to  a  high,  holy, 
and  spiritual  state.  Jacob,  like  all  who  have  attained 
to  true  greatness,  was  made  perfect  by  suffering. 
Figuratively  speaking,  every  one  who  would  attain 
to  his  true  inheritance  must  serve  seven  years  for 
Rachel,  and  be  given  Leah;  and  then  serve  "yet  another 
seven  years, "  for  the  well-favored  Rachel,  the  keeper  of 
the  sheep.  The  repetition  of  this  phrase  "seven  years" 
is  for  emphasis ;  and  since  the  number  seven,  expressive 
of  perfection,  is  repeated,  it  would  seem  that  Jacob's 
trial,  and  discipline,  and  chastening  were  full  and  com- 
plete. "Ye  shall  drink  indeed  of  my  cup,  and  be 
baptized  with  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized  with" 
(Matt.  20:23).  "Remember  what  things  God  did 
to  Abraham,  and  how  He  tried  Isaac,  and  what  hap- 
pened to  Jacob  in  Mesopotamia  of  Syria.  For  He 
hath  not  tried  us  in  the  fire,  as  he  did  them,  for  the 
examination  of  their  hearts,  neither  hath  He  taken 
vengeance  on  us:  but  the  Lord  doth  scourge  them 
that  come  near  unto  Him,  to  admonish  them"  (Judith 
8:26,27). 

In  the  thirty-fourth  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  is  written 
that  Dinah,  the  daughter  of  Leah,  went  out  to  see  the 
daughters  of  the  land;  that  Shechem,  the  son  of  Hamor, 
took  her  and  defiled  her.  "Shechem  spake  to  the 
heart  of  Dinah"  (Gen.  34:3).  This  is  the  old  story, 
first  the  debauchery  of  the  woman,  the  heart,  and  then 
the  fall  of  reason.  When  the  affections  are  corrupted, 
then  is  man  in  the  way  of  transgression.  "Adam  was 
not  deceived,  but  the  woman  being  deceived  was  in  the 
transgression"  (i  Tim.  2:  14).  Shechem  seeks  to  make 
reparation  for  his  wrong.  "Ask  me  never  so  much 
dowry  and  gift,  and  I  will  give  according  as  ye  say  unto 


The  Story  of  Jacob  169 

me:  but  give  me  the  damsel  to  wife"  (Gen.  34: 12). 
But  Jacob  and  his  sons  tell  Shechem  and  Hamor  that 
no  compromise  can  be  made.  "And  they  said  unto 
them,  We  cannot  do  this  thing,  to  give  our  sister  to  one 
that  is  uncircumcised ;  for  that  were  a  reproach  unto 
us"  (Gen.  34:  14).  Circumcision  is  an  ancient  symbol 
of  virtue.  It  distinguished  the  virtuous  and  chaste 
from  the  fallen  and  sensuous.  The  Hebrew  Scriptures 
teach  unqualifiedly  that  the  perfection  of  man,  and  of 
the  race,  depends  upon  the  mating  of  the  fit  with  the 
fit;  and  that  no  deviation  from  this  principle  is  to  be 
tolerated.  "Now,  therefore,  if  ye  will  obey  my  voice 
[if  ye  would  live  in  obedience  to  conscience  and  reason] 
and  thus  keep  My  covenant,  then  ye  shall  be  a  peculiar 
treasure  unto  me  above  all  people:  for  all  the  earth 
is  Mine"  (Ex.  19:  5).  If  there  is  to  be  a  royal  race,  a 
ruling  race,  a  perfect  race,  it  stands  to  reason  that  it 
must  be  developed  according  to  the  ideas  and  principles 
of  the  Scriptures.  Abraham  makes  his  eldest  servant 
take  an  oath  that  he  will  find  a  wife  for  Isaac  among  the 
fairest  and  the  best;  and  this  contributed  to  make  the 
blessings  of  Jacob  prevail  above  the  blessings  of  his 
progenitors  (Gen.  49 : 26) ;  and  Isaac  sends  Jacob  to 
the  people  of  the  East  that  he  may  find  a  suitable  wife. 
"And  Isaac  called  Jacob,  and  blessed  him,  and  charged 
him,  and  said  unto  him,  Thou  shalt  not  take  a  wife 
of  the  daughters  of  Canaan"  (Gen.  28:  i). 

It  is  written  that  two  of  Jacob's  sons,  Simeon  and 
Levi,  slew  Hamor  and  Shechem  his  son;  and  thus 
avenged  the  wrong  that  had  been  done  their  sister; 
and  when  Jacob  reproves  his  sons  for  their  violence, 
they  answer:  " Should  he  deal  with  our  sister  as  with  an 
harlot?"  This  allegory  teaches  that  the  fit  should  be 
mated  with  the  fit;  and  that  this  principle  must  be 


170  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

obeyed;  and  it  also  teaches  the  sacredness  of  chastity; 
and  the  enormity  of  the  offense  of  him  who  violates 
it.  The  moral  status  of  a  people,  or  their  want  of 
moral  status,  is  most  perfectly  revealed  in  the  attitude 
of  men  toward  women.  Tacitus  said  that  the  ancient 
Germans  were  a  virile  and  unconquerable  people,  and 
that  the  men  entertained  the  profoundest  respect  for 
women;  and  that  the  adulterer  was  buried  alive  in 
mud.  To  the  extent  that  people  are  alive  and  indignant 
at  the  violation  of  virtue  and  chastity,  they  are  moral ; 
and  to  the  extent  that  they  are  indifferent,  they  are  in 
a  state  of  degeneracy  and  death.  "To  be  carnally 
minded  is  to  be  in  a  state  of  death;  but  to  be  spiritually 
minded  is  to  be  in  a  state  of  life  and  peace"  (Rom. 
8:6). 

Mortals,  that  would  follow  me, 
Love  Virtue,  she  alone  is  free. 
She  can  teach  you  how  to  climb 
Higher  than  the  sphery  chime; 
Or,  if  Virtue  feeble  were, 
Heaven  itself  would  stoop  to  her. 

MILTON:  Comus. 

Jacob  is  now  returning  to  the  land  of  his  fathers, 
to  the  land  of  Abraham  and  of  Isaac,  the  land  in  which 
man  shall  not  lack  anything,  the  land  wherein  man  shall 
bless  God  (Deut.  8:9,  10).  "And  God  said,  Arise, 
go  up  to  Bethel,  and  dwell  there."  The  name  Bethel 
means  the  house  of  God.  Evidently,  this  has  reference 
to  a  high  and  holy  state  of  consciousness;  Jacob  is 
commanded  to  "go  up  to  Bethel,  and  dwell  there," 
and  he  at  once  makes  ready  to  fulfill  this  command. 
"Then  Jacob  said  unto  his  household,  and  to  all  that 
were  with  him,  Put  away  the  strange  gods  that  are 


The  Story  of  Jacob  171 

among  you,  and  be  clean  and  change  your  garments" 
(Gen.  35:2).  They  who  would  enter  in,  and  possess 
the  promised  land,  who  would  behold  the  power  and 
glory  of  God,  must  put  away  their  false  gods,  be  clean, 
change  their  garments,  and  make  ready  for  the  coming 
of  the  "third  day"  (Ex.  19: 10,  n;  Hosea  6:2;  Luke 
I3:32)'  "And  it  came  to  pass,  when  all  the  people 
were  clean,  that  they  passed  over  the  Jordan,"  into  the 
promised  land  (Josh.  4:1);  and  this  passage  over  Jordan 
to  possess  this  fair  land  was  on  the  third  day  (Josh. 
1:11). 

Jacob  has  returned  to  the  promised  land;  and  as  he 
journeyed  from  Bethel  to  Bethlehem,  Benjamin,  the 
son  of  the  right  hand,  the  son  of  him  who  hath  prevailed 
was  born.  The  son  of  man,  the  mind  of  man,  must  be 
lifted  up  above  the  plane  of  the  sensuous  animal  world, 
as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  if  man 
would  attain  to  a  conscious  relation  with  the  Kingdom 
of  God  that  transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the 
world.  "And  it  came  to  pass  as  Rachel's  soul  was 
departing,  that  she  called  his  name  Benoni:  but  his 
father  called  his  name  Benjamin"  (Gen.  35: 1 8).  The 
name  Benoni  means  the  son  of  sorrow  and  travail,  the 
son  of  grief  and  suffering;  and  thus  it  is  that  man  is 
made  perfect  by  suffering  (Heb.  5:8,  9).  "He  that 
hath  suffered  in  the  flesh  [and  died  to  the  world]  hath 
ceased  from  sin"  (i  Peter  4:  i).  ''Remember  what 
things  God  did  to  Abraham,  and  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob. 
For  he  hath  not  tried  us  in  the  fire,  as  he  did  them" 
(Judith  8:26,  27).  Jacob,  like  all  the  sons  of  God 
who  have  overcome  the  world,  experienced  a  great 
travail  of  soul.  "He  shall  see  the  travail  of  his  soul, 
and  shall  be  satisfied:  by  his  knowledge  shall  my 
righteous  servant  justify  many;  for  he  shall  bear  their 


172  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

iniquities"  (Isa.  53:11).  He  bears  the  iniquities  of 
many  who  lives  superior  to  every  temptation.  The 
story  of  Jacob  recalls  the  immortal  words  of  Hesiod, 
the  Greek  epic  poet: 

Vice  one  may  take  in  troops  with  ease, 

But  in  fair  Virtue's  front 
Immortal  God  has  stationed  toil, 
And  care,  and  sweat,  to  bar  the  road. 
Long  is  the  road  and  steep, 
And  rough  at  first,  which  leads  the  steps 

Of  mortal  man  thereto; 
But  when  you  reach  the  height,  the  path 
Is  easy  which  before  was  hard, 
And  swift  the  onward  course. 

Plato,  in  his  dialogue,  Laws,  facetiously  makes 
mention  of  these  lines,  and  says:  "The  case  of  the 
many  proves  the  wisdom  of  Hesiod,  who  says  that  the 
road  to  wickedness  is  smooth  and  very  short,  and  that 
there  is  no  need  of  perspiring." 

Benjamin  is  the  last-born  son  of  the  well-favored 
Rachel;  he  is  the  eighth  legitimate  son  of  Jacob.  The 
number  eight,  when  used  in  a  psychological  sense, 
means  the  beginning,  or  commencement  of  a  new  state 
of  being;  and  this  event,  the  birth  of  Benjamin,  certifies 
the  perfection  of  Jacob,  the  realization  of  the  higher 
life.  "Arise,  go  to  Bethel,  and  dwell  there."  Jacob  is 
the  type  of  the  perfect  man.  Rachel  the  represen- 
tative of  reason,  has  completed  her  work.  ' '  Among  you 
[among  the  regenerate],  he  that  is  eight  days  old  shall 
be  circumcised"  (Gen.  17:  12).  Circumcision  is  an 
ancient  symbol  which  was  intended  to  teach,  and  does 
teach,  the  high  and  holy  possibilities  of  man.  The 
circumcision  of  the  child  on  the  eighth  day  certifies 


The  Story  of  Jacob  173 

the  regeneracy  of  the  parents,  and  prefigures  the 
regeneracy  of  the  child.  "The  children  of  the  flesh," 
the  children  of  the  unregenerate,  are  not  the  children 
of  God;  "but  the  children  of  the  promise,"  the  children 
of  the  regenerate  are  counted  for  the  seed  (Rom.  9:8). 
Circumcision  is  the  dedication  of  the  child  of  the 
regenerate  to  virtue,  to  the  higher  life,  the  life  repre- 
sented by  Abraham,  and  by  Isaac,  and  by  Jacob,  and 
by  Moses,  and  by  Jesus,  and  by  all  the  resurrected. 
"But  as  touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  have 
ye  not  read  that  which  was  spoken  unto  you  by  God, 
saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of 
Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob?  God  is  not  the  God  of 
the  dead,  but  of  the  living"  (Matt.  22:31,  32).  God 
is  not  the  God  of  the  animalized,  of  the  carnally  minded, 
but  of  the  spiritually  minded;  God  is  the  God  of  those 
whose  minds  are  lifted  up  above  the  plane  of  the 
sensuous  world. 

"And  Leah  bare  Jacob  a  sixth  son;  and  Leah  said, 
God  hath  endued  me  with  a  good  dowry;  now  will  my 
husband  dwell  with  me,  because  I  have  born  him  six 
sons;  and  she  called  his  name  Zebulun"  (Gen.  30:  19, 
20).  The  name  Zebulun  means  dwelling,  or  habita- 
tion, that  which  represents  a  settled  and  peaceful 
condition.  Power  to  bare  suffering  and  trial  with 
patience  is  a  "good  dowry."  "Now  will  my  husband 
[a  contented  and  virtuous  mind]  dwell  with  me." 
The  number  six,  as  here  used,  represents  all  the  states 
of  labor,  emulation,  contest,  and  suffering,  which  pre- 
cede the  coming  of  the  eternal  day  of  rest  and  peace. 
It,  therefore,  follows  that  the  number  seven,  like  the 
number  eight,  represents  the  commencement,  or  begin- 
ning of  a  new  and  higher  state.  "If  a  man  [a  male 
child]  on  the  Sabbath  day  receive  circumcision,  that 


174  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  Law  of  Moses  should  not  be  broken;  are  ye  angry  at 
me,  because  I  have  made  a  man  every  whit  whole  on  the 
Sabbath  day?"  (John  7:  23).  He  who  is  made  "every 
whit  whole"  by  the  teachings  of  Moses  and  Jesus,  he 
who  attains  to  perfection  of  character,  he  who  fulfills 
the  Law,  attains  to  the  seventh  day,  the  Sabbath 
day,  the  day  of  rest  and  peace. 

But  when  you  reach  the  height,  the  path 
Is  easy  which  before  was  hard, 
And  swift  the  onward  course. 

God  who  made  man,  a  reasoning  being,  in  His  own 
image  and  likeness,  made  him  capable  of  attaining  to  a 
high  degree  of  perfection,  through  successive  grada- 
tions of  improvement,  in  an  ascending  life.  Much  is 
said  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures 
about  the  children  of  the  regenerate  being  "counted 
for  the  seed"  (Gen.  21:12;  Rom.  9:7,  8).  The 
Scriptures  tell  us  in  unmistakable  terms  that  it  is  the 
children  of  the  virtuous,  the  chaste,  the  just,  who  are 
to  reform  the  world.  "Salvation  is  of  the  Jews" 
(John  4:22).  What  is  regeneration?  Does  it  consist 
in  consenting  to  some  form  of  words,  or  does  it  consist 
in  a  process  of  development  like  that  revealed  in  the 
life  of  Abraham,  and  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob? 

William  Ellery  Channing,  when  discoursing  on 
Regeneration,  an  hundred  years  ago  (1811),  said: 

Do  sensual  and  earthly  desires  hear  the  voice  of  con- 
science? How  many  desires  and  habits  which  conscience 
forbids  are  indulged  in!  A  religious  character,  then,  is  an 
acquisition,  and  implies  a  change;  a  change  which  requires 
labor  and  prayer,  which  requires  aid  and  strength  from 
heaven;  a  change  so  great  and  important,  that  it  deserves 


The  Story  of  Jacob  175 

to  be  called  a  new  birth.  .  .  .  Once  his  passions  were  his 
lords;  now  he  bows  to  the  authority,  and  waits  to  hear  the 
will,  of  God.  Once  human  opinion  was  his  guide,  and 
human  favor  the  reward  he  proposed;  now  he  feels  that 
another  eye  is  upon  him,  and  his  heart  and  life  are  naked 
before  God,  and  to  approve  himself  to  this  righteous  and 
unerring  witness  and  judge  is  his  highest  ambition.  .  .  . 
To  conclude, — once  he  was  alive  to  injury,  and  suffered 
anger  and  revenge  to  direct  his  treatment  of  an  enemy; 
now  his  indignation  is  tempered  by  mercy,  and  he  is  ready 
to  forgive. 

The  great  are  they  who  act  in  obedience  to  conscience 
and  to  reason;  they  live  above  the  spirit  of  the  world; 
they  make  no  compromise  with  evil.  The  immortal 
Socrates,  when  addressing  the  judges  who  condemned 
him  to  death,  said:  "Men  of  Athens,  I  honor  and  love 
you,  but  I  shall  obey  God  rather  than  you." 

It  is  the  command  of  Heaven  that  man  shall  labor 
to  make  his  own  soul  perfect.  "And  the  Lord  God 
took  the  Man,  and  put  him  into  the  Garden  of  Eden 
to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it"  (Gen.  2: 15).  Abraham  is 
commanded  to  be  perfect.  "I  am  the  Almighty  God; 
walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect"  (Gen.  17:  i). 
"And  the  Lord  appeared  unto  Isaac,  and  said,  Go  not 
down  into  Egypt;  dwell  in  the  land  which  I  shall  tell  thee 
of:  Sojourn  in  this  land,  and  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  I 
will  bless  thee"  (Gen.  26:  2,  3).  "And  God  said  unto 
Jacob,  Arise,  go  up  to  Bethel,  and  dwell  there"  (Gen. 
35:  i).  "We  are  labourers  together  with  God"  (i  Cor. 
3:9).  The  aim  and  end  of  religion  is  the  sanctification 
of  the  soul;  and  this  bespeaks  successive  gradations  of 
improvement;  it  bespeaks  development  "from  character 
to  character."  The  Holy  Spirit  is  present  with,  and 
blesses  all  who  live  above  the  spirit  of  the  sensuous 


1 76  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

animal  world.  It  is  written:  "Noah  was  a  just 
man  and  perfect  in  his  generations,  and  Noah  walked 
with  God"  (Gen.  6:9).  This  we  would  interpret: 
Noah  was  desirous  in  his  heart  to  be  just;  he  lived  a 
blameless  life;  he  did  the  best  he  could  with  the  knowl- 
edge that  he  had. 

While  it  seems  to  involve  a  contradiction,  perhaps, 
it  is  fair  to  say,  that  he  is  "perfect  in  his  generations, 
and  walks  with  God,"  who  does  the  best  he  can  with  the 
knowledge  that  he  has.  "The  perfection  of  all  crea- 
tures, including  man,"  said  Leibnitz,  "consists  in  a 
strong  and  unhampered  forward  impulse  toward  ever 
new  perfections."  Paul  would  have  us  know  that  the 
perfection  of  the  soul  is  "from  character  to  character." 
In  a  word,  that  its  perfection  is  an  orderly  process. 
It  stands  to  reason,  that  man  is  responsible  and  blame- 
ful only  so  far  as  he  has  power  to  know  and  do  his  duty ; 
and  that  he  is  depraved  and  guilty  only,  so  far  as  he 
indulges  evil  propensities  which  he  can  resist  and 
avoid.  He  walks  with  God  who  is  faithful  to  conscience 
and  reason.  He  walks  with  God  whose  Rachel  and 
Leah,  whose  mind  and  heart,  vie  with  each  other  in 
virtuous  and  holy  endeavor.  O  that  my  mind  and 
heart  may  attain  to  a  perfect  unity,  like  the  two  faithful 
wives  of  Jacob.  The  Scriptures  teach,  as  did  Socrates 
and  Plato,  that  the  principles  of  the  human  soul  may 
attain  to  a  state  of  harmony,  unity,  concord;  and  this 
we  denominate  the  perfection  of  the  soul  of  man.  And 
yet,  what  we  call  perfection  seems  to  have  its  limita- 
tions. "Good  Master,  what  shall  I  do  that  I  may 
inherit  eternal  life?  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Why 
callest  thou  me  good?  there  is  none  good  but  one,  that 
is  God"  (Mark  10:  17).  Plato  in  his  dialogue  Laws, 
says:  "Now,  God  is  the  measure  of  all  things,  in  a 


The  Story  of  Jacob  177 

sense  far  higher  than  any  man,  as  they  say,  can  ever 
hope  to  be.  And  he  who  would  be  dear  to  God  must, 
as  far  as  possible,  be  like  him  and  such  as  He  is.  Where- 
fore the  temperate  man  is  the  friend  of  God,  for  he  is 
like  him;  and  the  intemperate  man  is  unlike  him  and 
different  from  him,  and  unjust."  "This  is  the  sub- 
stance of  religion,"  said  Pythagoras,  "to  imitate  Him 
whom  we  worship." 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  the  soul  of  man  may  attain 
to  a  state  of  unity  and  harmony,  to  a  state  of  perfection, 
but  the  mind,  the  governing  principle  of  the  soul,  may 
continue  to  enlarge  its  sphere  forever.  "  Of  the  increase 
of  his  government  and  peace  there  shall  be  no  end" 
(Isa.  9:7).  William  Ellery  Channing,  when  discoursing 
on  the  subject :  Imitableness  of  Christ's  Character,  and  the 
text,  "Christ  also  suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an  example, 
that  ye  should  follow  his  steps"  (i  Peter  2:  21),  said: 

The  body  soon  reaches  its  limit.  But  intellect,  affec- 
tion, moral  energy,  in  proportion  to  their  growth,  tend  to 
further  enlargement,  and  every  acquisition  is  an  impulse  to 
something  higher.  When  I  consider  this  principle  or 
capacity  of  the  human  soul,  I  cannot  restrain  the  hope 
which  it  awakens.  The  partition  walls  which  imagination 
has  reared  between  men  and  higher  orders  of  beings  vanish. 
I  no  longer  see  aught  to  prevent  our  becoming  whatever 
was  good  and  great  in  Jesus  on  earth.  In  truth,  I  feel  my 
utter  inability  to  conceive  what  a  mind  is  to  attain  which 
is  to  advance  forever.  Add  but  that  element,  eternity,  to 
Man's  progress,  and  the  results  of  his  existence  surpass 
not  only  human  but  angelic  thought.  Give  me  this  and 
the  future  glory  of  the  human  Mind  becomes  to  me  as 
incomprehensible  as  God  Himself." 

The  first  sentence  of  the  thirty-seventh  chapter  of 
Genesis  is  a  veiled  description  of  the  greatness  of 


1 78  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Jacob.  "And  Jacob  dwelt  in  the  land  wherein  his 
father  was  a  stranger,  in  the  land  of  Canaan."  This 
indicates  that  Jacob  had  attained  to  a  state  of  wisdom 
and  power  to  which  "his  father  was  a  stranger." 
There  are  other  like  Scriptures  (Gen.  49:26;  Baruch 
3:36);  this  accords  with  the  Hebrew  idea:  the  longer 
the  line  of  virtuous  ancestry,  the  greater  the  power 
of  the  individual  descendant.  It  would  seem  that  Mary, 
the  mother  of  Jesus,  was  descended  of  more  than  forty 
generations  of  monotheists  and  haters  of  idolatry  (Matt. 
1:17).  When  Jacob  blesses  the  sons  of  Joseph,  he 
says:  "Let  my  name  [my  character]  be  named  on 
them,  and  the  name  of  my  fathers  Abraham  and  Isaac" 
(Gen.  48:16).  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  represent 
three  generations  of  regenerate  man;  but  Jacob  is 
represented  as  having  attained  to  a  state  of  wisdom  and 
power  beyond  that  of  his  ancestors;  the  virtues  of  his 
fathers  are  "named  on  him,"  are  made  manifest  in 
him;  he  is  the  type  of  the  perfect  man;  he  is  so  because 
of  his  noble  ancestry;  he  is  so  because  he  lives  worthy 
of  the  privileges  of  life;  he  is  so  because  his  higher 
nature  has  prevailed  over  his  lower;  he  is  so  because 
he  lives  above  the  spirit  of  the  sensuous  animal  world. 
"Thy  name  shall  be  called  no  more  Jacob,  but  Israel: 
for  as  a  prince  hast  thou  power  with  God  and  with  men, 
and  hast  prevailed"  (Gen.  32:  28).  "For  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  not  [represented]  in  words,  but  in  power" 
(i  Cor.  4:  20).  The  Kingdom  of  God,  the  government 
and  power  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  character. 
"Behold,  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  within  you"  (Luke 
17:21;  11:20;  Matt.  12:28).  They  who  declare  the 
power  and  glory  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  are  they  who 
have  overcome  the  world.  Salvation  is  of  the  regenerate ; 
"Salvation  is  of  the  Jews" ;  salvation  is  by  character. 


The  Story  of  Jacob  179 

The  task  of  Israel,  and  of  every  rational  being,  is 
to  be  holy,  is  to  seek  perfection  of  character  (Lev.  19: 
2;  Deut.  26:  19;  Ex.  19:  6).  The  Scriptures  tell  us  that 
God  sent  his  prophets,  the  wise  men,  to  the  people  of 
Israel  again  and  again,  that  the  seed  of  virtue  might 
be  preserved,  and  that  the  holy  work  of  salvation  might 
proceed  apace  (Jer.  7:25;  11:7;  35:15;  Neh.  9:30; 
2  Kings  17:  13;  2  Chron.  36:  15,  16).  The  Scriptures 
teach  that  it  is  through  the  instrumentality  of  Israel, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  regenerate,  that 
mankind  are  to  be  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
"Salvation  is  of  the  Jews"  (John  4:22;  Rom.  9:4; 
Isa.  2:2-4;  Micah  4:  1-4;  Jer.  3:  17).  It  is  the  seed 
of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob ;  it  is  the  seed  of  the 
virtuous  which  is  to  bring  an  indescribable  blessing  to 
the  people  of  all  nations.  "Only  the  Lord  had  a  delight 
in  thy  fathers  to  love  them,  and  he  chose  their  seed 
after  them,  even  you  above  all  people,  as  it  is  this  day" 
(Deut.  10 :  15).  "I  am  the  Lord  that  do  work  Love, 
Justice,  and  Righteousness :  for  in  these  things  I  delight, 
saith  the  Lord"  (Jer.  9:  24). 

Zion,  or  Jerusalem,  is  often  used  in  the  Scriptures 
as  a  figure  to  represent  the  Church  Universal,  the 
elect  of  God,  the  fraternity  of  the  just.  The  power  and 
glory  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  the  lives  of  the  just 
(Rom.  i:  19).  "He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father"  (John  14:9).  In  olden  time  Jersualem  was 
the  rendezvous  of  the  great  of  Israel.  The  soul  of 
the  just  is  called  the  daughter  of  Zion,  the  daughter 
of  Jerusalem.  "Rejoice  greatly,  0  daughter  of  Zion, 
O  daughter  of  Jerusalem"  (Zech.  9:9).  "Out  of 
Zion  shall  go  forth  the  Law,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord 
from  Jerusalem"  (Isa.  2:3;  Mic.  4:2;  Luke  24:27). 
"For  the  Lord  hath  chosen  Zion;  he  hath  desired  it 


i8o  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

for  his  habitation.  This  is  my  rest  forever;  here  will 
I  dwell;  for  I  have  desired  it"  (Ps.  132: 13,  14).  The 
power  of  God,  the  love  of  God,  the  glory  of  God,  the 
salvation  of  God,  the  Law  of  God,  the  divine  order, 
is  made  manifest  in  the  lives  of  the  just.  "For  God 
hath  desired  it." 

The  thirty-seventh  chapter  of  Genesis  opens  with  a 
statement  indicative  of  the  high  attainments  of  Jacob ; 
and  it  also  contains  much  that  suggests  the  high  char- 
acter of  the  young  and  well-favored  Joseph,  who 
though  the  youngest  of  his  father's  sons  but  one,  is 
their  superior.  "Joseph,  being  seventeen  years  old, 
was  feeding  the  flock  with  his  brethren,  and  the  lad 
was  with  the  sons  of  Billah,  and  with  the  sons  of  Zilpah, 
his  father's  wives:  and  Joseph  brought  unto  his  father 
their  evil  report."  Cain  slew  Abel;  Ishmael  mocked 
Isaac ;  Esau  persecuted  Jacob.  When  Joseph's  brethren 
saw  that  their  father  loved  him  more  than  all  his 
brethren,  they  hated  him,  and  could  not  speak  peace- 
ably unto  him  (Gen.  37:4).  From  what  is  here  said, 
it  would  seem  that  the  sons  of  the  bondmaids  were 
the  least  evolved,  and  Joseph  the  highest,  of  the  sons 
of  Jacob.  It  is  here  written  that  Joseph  dreamed 
dreams  that  portended  his  future  greatness.  "And 
he  told  his  dream  unto  his  father,  and  to  his  brethren: 
and  his  father  rebuked  him,  and  said  unto  him,  What  is 
this  that  thou  hast  dreamed?  Shall  I  and  thy  mother 
and  thy  brethren  indeed  come  to  bow  down  ourselves 
to  thee  to  the  earth?  And  his  brethren  envied  him; 
but  his  father  observed  the  saying."  They  who  are 
destined  to  future  greatness  give  evidence  of  it  in  their 
childhood,  and  the  wise  take  note  of  it.  "His  father 
observed  the  saying."  "His  mother  kept  these  sayings 
in  her  heart "  (Luke  2:51).  Joseph  is  the  son  of  regener- 


The  Story  of  Jacob  181 

ate  parents;  and  there  is  nothing  truer  than  that  the 
children  of  the  regenerate  are  inclined  to  virtue  from 
their  early  childhood.  But  since  the  story  of  Joseph 
is  to  be  told  in  the  next  chapter,  it  is  only  necessary  here 
to  say,  that  the  greatness  of  Jacob  was  represented 
in  Joseph,  the  great  master,  and  prince,  who  "ruled  over 
all  the  land  of  Egypt,"  and  to  whom  all  were  required 
to  do  obeisance  (Gen.  41:43).  Perhaps  Joseph  was 
greater  than  his  father;  for  it  would  seem  that  the 
accumulated  virtues  of  his  fathers  were  "named  on 
him." 

Joseph,  though  a  lad,  was  the  overseer  of  his  father's 
business.  "And  Jacob  said  unto  him,  Go,  I  pray,  see 
whether  it  is  well  with  thy  brethren,  and  with  the 
flocks;  and  bring  me  word  again."  But  Joseph  is 
unkindly  received  by  his  brethren.  "And  they  said 
one  to  another,  Behold,  this  dreamer  cometh."  And 
they  counseled  that  they  should  kill  him.  "And  Reu- 
ben heard  it,  and  he  delivered  him  out  of  their  hands 
and  said,  Let  us  not  kill  him."  Reuben  counseled 
that  they  cast  him  into  a  pit;  it  being  the  intention  of 
Reuben,  "that  he  might  rid  him  out  of  their  hands,  to 
deliver  him  to  his  father  again ";  but  it  is  written  that 
Joseph's  brethren  stript  him  of  his  coat  of  many  colors 
"that  was  upon  him,"  and  cast  him  into  a  pit  where 
there  was  no  water.  Joseph's  coat  of  many  colors  was 
the  insignia  of  his  father's  love;  and  it  prefigured  the 
purity  and  greatness  of  his  life.  Perhaps  there  is  nothing 
under  Heaven  more  suggestive  of  cleanness  and  virtue 
than  soft,  clean,  bright  colors;  and  thus  it  is  that  the 
bow  in  the  sky  is  a  fit  symbol  of  God's  covenant  with 
man.  God  promises  rest,  and  peace,  and  glory,  to  all 
of  his  children  whose  lives  are  made  to  resemble  the 
clean,  soft,  bright  colors  of  the  bow  in  the  sky. 


1 82  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

It  is  written  that  the  brethren  of  Joseph  lifted  up 
their  eyes,  and  beheld  a  company  of  Ishmaelites  come 
from  Gilead  with  their  camels  bearing  spicery  and 
balm  and  myrrh,  going  to  carry  it  down  to  Egypt; 
and  then  it  is  proposed  that  they  sell  Joseph  to 
the  Midianite  merchants.  "And  Judah  said  unto  his 
brethren,  What  profit  is  it  if  we  slay  our  brother,  and 
conceal  his  blood?  Come  let  us  sell  him  to  the  Ishmael- 
ites, and  let  not  our  hand  be  upon  him;  for  he  is  our 
brother  and  our  flesh."  And  thus  Joseph  is  carried 
down  to  Egypt.  "And  Reuben  returned  unto  the 
pit;  and  behold,  Joseph  was  not  in  the  pit;  and  he  rent 
his  clothes."  "He  is  our  brother  and  our  flesh." 
"Have  we  not  all  One  Father?  Has  not  One  God 
created  us  all?  "  (Mai.  2:10).  It  is  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge  that  aromatics,  especially  myrrh  and  cas- 
sia, were  used  in  religious  observances,  in  ancient  as 
well  as  in  modern  times;  and  that  they  are  symbols  of 
cleanliness  and  purity.  They  who  love  righteousness, 
and  hate  wickedness,  "God  hath  anointed  with  the 
oil  of  gladness  above  their  fellows;  and  their  garments 
smell  of  myrrh,  and  aloes,  and  cassia"  (Ps.  45:7). 
It  is  therefore  apparent  that  the  spicery,  and  balm, 
and  myrrh  are  symbols  that  prefigure  the  character  of 
Joseph,  just  as  the  gold,  and  frankincense,  and  myrrh, 
presented  to  the  infant  Jesus  by  the  wise  men  of  the 
east  were  symbols  expressive  of  his  future  greatness 
(Matt.  2:  u). 

What  does  the  chapter,  the  thirty-seventh  of  Genesis 
teach?  Is  it  simply  history?  When  Joseph  is  feeding 
the  flock  with  his  brethren,  the  sons  of  Billah  and  of 
Zilpah,  he  "brought  unto  his  father  their  evil  report"; 
and  when  Joseph  goes  again  to  see  if  all  is  well  with 
his  brethren,  and  with  the  flocks,  some  of  his  brethren, 


The  Story  of  Jacob  183 

presumably  the  sons  of  the  bondmaids,  counsel  his 
death;  but  the  sons  of  Leah  inveigh  against  this. 
Reuben  insists  that  he  shall  be  delivered  to  his  father 
again;  Judah  counsels  that  they  do  him  no  outward 
violence;  "Let  not  our  hand  be  upon  him"  but  that  he 
be  sold  to  the  Ishmaelites.  It  is  submitted  that  this 
story  is  intended  to  teach,  and  does  teach,  states  of 
human  consciousness.  The  sons  of  the  bondmaids,  it 
would  seem,  counsel  gross  violence.  Like  Cain,  and 
like  Esau,  they  would  slay  their  brother  that  is  pre- 
ferred before  them;  but  the  sons  of  Leah  are  in  some 
measure  controlled  of  conscience  and  reason.  "  Reuben, 
thou  art  my  first-born,  my  might,  and  the  beginning  of 
my  strength,  the  excellency  of  dignity,  and  the  excel- 
lency of  power"  (Gen.  49:3).  The  dignity  of  man, 
and  the  power  of  man,  begins  in  obedience  to  conscience 
and  reason. 

That  the  building  of  character  involves  an  orderly 
process  is  taught  by  all  the  wise;  and  it  has  been 
taught  by  men  less  renowned  than  the  Hebrew  prophets 
and  the  greatest  of  the  Greek  philosophers.  Professor 
William  James  in  his  Varieties  of  Religious  Experiences, 
says:  "To  be  converted,  to  be  regenerated,  to  receive 
grace,  to  experience  religion,  to  gain  an  assurance,  are 
so  many  phrases  which  denote  a  process,  gradual  or  sud- 
den, by  which  a  Self  hitherto  divided,  and  consciously 
wrong,  inferior,  and  unhappy,  becomes  unified  and 
consciously  right,  superior,  and  happy,  in  consequence 
of  its  firmer  hold  on  religious  realities."  It  is  certainly 
apparent  that  the  Scriptures  describe  again  and  again 
the  process  whereby  the  soul  of  man  attains  to  a  state 
of  harmony  and  perfection,  and  it  would  seem  that  this 
process  is  succinctly  described  in  the  story  of  Jacob. 

The  author  of  this  book  insists  that  the  Hebrew 


1 84  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Scriptures  are  essentially  psychological,  and  not  his- 
toric; that  they  are  fundamentally  psychological,  and 
incidentally  historic;  and  it  seems  fair  to  say  that 
the  hisforic  method  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures  has 
prevailed  almost  exclusively  in  the  Western  world  since 
the  second  or  third  centuries,  A.D.  Even  to-day  large 
sums  of  money  are  being  expended  in  burrowing  into 
the  hidden  and  dark  places  of  the  Egyptian  pyramids, 
and  into  the  ruins  of  buried  cities  for  the  purpose 
of  confirming  the  historic  features  of  the  Scriptures. 
There  are  thousands  of  good  men  and  women,  who 
have  observed  the  waning  influence  of  the  historic 
churches,  that  are  now  earnestly  desirous  to  revive  an 
interest  in  religion  as  it  is  taught  in  them;  and  to  this 
end  the  world  is  being  ransacked  in  the  hope  of  finding 
something  that  will  breathe  into  these  churches  a  new 
life  and  power.  The  plight  of  the  churches  is  pathetic. 
There  is  a  Church,  however,  which  is  not  historic 
and  which  exists  above  and  beyond  the  ravages  of  the 
sensuous  animal  world;  it  is  the  fraternity  of  the  just; 
and  he  who  would  belong  to  this  church,  this  brother- 
hood must  live  in  obedience  to  Heaven's  Law.  The 
end  and  aim  of  religion  is  to  relate  man  to  a  kingdom 
which  transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world. 
"My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  if  my  kingdom  were 
of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight."  "And 
God  said  unto  Jacob,  Arise,  go  up  to  Bethel,  and  dwell 
there."  "And  Jesus  said  to  another,  Follow  me.  But 
he  said,  Lord,  suffer  me  first  to  go  and  bury  my  father. 
Jesus  said  unto  him,  Let  the  dead  [let  the  sensuous  and 
carnally  minded]  bury  their  dead:  but  go  thou  and 
preach  the  Kingdom  of  God.  And  another  also  said, 
I  will  follow  thee ;  but  let  me  first  go  bid  them  farewell, 
which  are  at  home  at  my  house.  And  Jesus  said  unto 


The  Story  of  Jacob  185 

him,  No  man,  having  put  his  hand  to  the  plough, 
and  looking  back,  is  fit  for  the  Kingdom  of  God" 
(Luke  9:59-62).  No  man  whose  mind  and  heart 
are  set  upon  the  things  of  the  world;  no  man  who 
compromises  with  the  spirit  of  the  world  is  fit  for 
the  Kingdom  of  God. 

It  is  submitted  that  when  the  Scriptures  are  truly 
interpreted  from  the  standpoint  of  psychology,  then 
will  the  One  True  Religion  founded  upon  human  nature 
attain  to  its  scientific  establishment.  If  the  principles 
of  religion  are  teachable  and  demonstrable,  then  it 
stands  to  reason  that  they  are  scientific  and  eternal, 
and  are  not  a  matter  of  speculation.  All  truth  that 
is  teachable  and  demonstrable  has  relation  to  some 
known  object.  "We  must  start  in  religion,"  says 
William  Ellery  Channing,  "from  our  own  souls.  In 
these  is  the  foundation  of  all  divine  truth."  This  was 
the  oft-repeated  utterance  of  him  who  was  called  the 
Socrates  of  the  New  England  School  of  Transcendental- 
ists;  this  was  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  this  illustrious 
school  of  teachers  and  philosophers.  The  author  of 
this  book  affirms  that  this  doctrine  is  taught  both  in 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  and  in  the  Socratic  School  of 
Greek  Philosophy;  and  that  it  is  in  harmony  with  reason 
and  human  experience. 

Of  course,  the  great  metaphysical  idea,  that  we 
should  live  in  continual  dependence  upon  God's  Spirit, 
and  faithfully  and  prayerfully  seek  to  live  worthy  of 
It,  is  at  the  very  heart  of  religion ;  but  notwithstanding 
this  great  central  truth,  our  insistence  is:  that  the 
knowable,  the  teachable,  and  the  demonstrable,  have 
to  do  with  man.  The  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
in  the  soul  of  man  is  the  great  truth  of  religion.  "  Know 
ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the 


1 86  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you?"  (i  Cor.  3: 16).  Then 
the  question:  What  is  the  process  whereby  the  soul 
and  body  of  man  is  made  pure  and  chaste,  a  fit  temple 
of  the  living  God?  "Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God 
[the  abiding-place  of  God]  is  with  men,  and  He  will 
dwell  with  them"  (Rev.  21:3).  "Wisdom  maketh 
all  things  new;  and  in  all  ages  entering  into  holy  souls 
hath  made  them  friends  of  God,  and  prophets"  (Wisd. 
of  Sol.  7:  27).  Is  there  a  more  edifying  and  consoling 
thought  confided  to  man  than  this:  that  man,  mentally, 
is  made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  his  Creator,  and 
is  endowed  with  the  capacity  of  making  the  human 
soul  perfect? 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  "God  is  a  Spirit"  (John 
4:24;  Zech.  4:6;  Isa.  40:13;  2  Cor.  3:17);  and 
they  expressly  inhibit  any  image,  or  likeness  of  Him 
(Ex.  20: 4,  5;  Deut.  4: 15,  16;  Isa.  40:  18).  God  is  be- 
yond limitation  and  definition;  therefore,  the  know- 
able  and  teachable  have  to  do  with  man.  The  idea 
before  us  suggests  the  pointed  inquiry  of  the  late 
Horace  Bushnell  (Introduction  to  his  book,  Forgiveness 
and  Law) :  "Is  it  not  time  now,  after  so  many  centu- 
ries gone  by,  to  have  it  discovered,  that  there  is  no 
truth  concerning  God  which  is  not  somehow  explicated 
by  truths  of  our  own  moral  consciousness?  "  The  great 
prophets,  sent  of  God,  sought  to  rescue  religion  from 
dogmatism  and  speculation;  they  taught  that  all  the 
truths  of  religion  fall  within  the  field  of  human  experi- 
ence; that  all  who  live  worthy  of  the  Law  shall  know 
the  doctrine  (John  7: 17).  When  the  soul  of  man  is 
conformed  to  the  moral  order  of  God  manifest  in  all 
the  works  of  nature,  then  is  the  soul  of  man  an  organ 
of  truth,  then  does  man  express  the  will  of  God.  "My 
doctrine  is  not  of  me,  but  His  that  sent  me"  (John 


The  Story  of  Jacob  187 

7:  1 6).  "The  moral  order  of  the  universe,  said  Fichte, 
is  itself  God:  we  need  no  other,  and  we  can  comprehend 
no  other." 

A  Law  of  Order  reigns 
Throughout  creation,  and  this  Law  it  is 
Which  like  to  God  the  universe  maintains, 
Herein  do  higher  creatures  see  displayed 
The  trace  of  the  Eternal  Might — 
All  natures  to  this  heavenly  Law  incline, 
Approaching  each,  according  to  his  kind, 
Some  more,  some  less,  unto  their  source  divine. 

DANTE:  Paradiso,  Canto  i. 

Moreover,  it  is  apparent,  that  Socrates,  the  sage 
of  Athens,  and  his  disciple  Plato,  sought  to  rescue 
Philosophy  from  dogmatism  and  speculation;  for  it  is 
written  that  they  taught  that  virtue,  and  virtue  alone, 
points  the  way  to  all  higher  knowledge.  These  ob- 
servations recall,  what  is  said  to  have  been  a  favorite 
remark  of  St.  Augustine:  "O  my  God,  who  art  always 
the  same,  let  me  know  myself,  and  I  shall  know  thee." 
This  accords  with  the  song  of  Pope: 

That  virtue  only  makes  our  bliss  below; 
And  all  our  knowledge  is,  ourselves  to  know. 

Men  need  not  trouble  their  souls  with  metaphysical 
speculations  about  the  personality  of  God.  It  is 
enough  to  know  that  Wisdom,  Truth,  Self-Conscious- 
ness, and  Self-Activity  are  reckoned  as  essentials  of 
personality  in  its  highest  expression.  It  is  unthinkable, 
therefore,  that  these  essentials  of  personality  should 
exist  in  man,  and  not  exist  in  the  Creator  of  man.  "  He 
that  planted  the  ear,  shall  He  not  hear?  He  that 
formed  the  eye,  shall  He  not  see?  He  that  teacheth 


1 88  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

men  knowledge,  shall  He  not  know?"  (Ps.  94:9,  10). 
"For  what  maketh  thee  to  differ  from  another?  and  what 
hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  receive?"  (i  Cor.  4:7). 
Science  itself  acknowledges  that  all  conceivable  things 
proceed  from  one  unseen  source.  "All  things  proceed 
from  One  Universal  Energy,"  said  Herbert  Spencer. 
Why  should  men  speculate  upon  the  character  of  God, 
when  it  is  possible  to  live  a  life  of  virtue,  a  life  superior 
to  the  sensuous  animal  spirit  of  the  world,  and  thus 
come  to  a  realization  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  conscious- 
ness? "It  is  of  all  things  most  difficult,"  said  Plato, 
"to  find  out  God,  and  impossible  to  communicate  him 
to  others."  Man  comes  to  know  God  by  approaching 
Him  in  likeness,  by  becoming  "a  partaker  of  the 
Divine  nature"  (2  Peter  1:4). 

Unseen,  yet  not  unfelt;  if  any  thought 
Has  raised  our  minds  from  earth,  a  pure  desire, 
A  generous  act,  a  noble  purpose  brought, 
It  is  Thy  breath,  O  Lord,  which  fans  the  fire. 

JAMES  FREEMAN  CLARKE. 

Paul  in  all  earnestness  of  speech  counsels  perfection, 
and  tells  us  to  look  forward  to  the  time  when  we  shall 
"come  into  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  the  perfect  man,  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ"  (Eph. 
4:  13).  Jesus,  it  would  seem,  expressly  rebuked  the 
idea  that  God,  the  Father,  the  Spirit  of  all  righteousness, 
is  to  be  contemplated  in  an  abstract  and  metaphysical 
way.  "Philip  saith  unto  him,  Lord,  show  us  the 
Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us.  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Have 
I  been  so  long  a  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not 
known  me,  Philip?  he  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 


The  Story  of  Jacob  189 

Father;  and  how  sayest  thou  then,  Show  us  the  Father?" 
(John  14 :  8,  9).  "That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is 
made  manifest  in  the  lives  of  the  just;  for  God  hath 
showed  it  unto  them"  (Rom.  i:  19).  The  Scriptures 
teach  unqualifiedly  that  the  character  of  God,  "the  Di- 
vine nature,"  is  manifested  in  the  lives  of  the  faithful  and 
just.  "Can  we  find  such  a  one  as  this,  a  man  in  whom 
the  Spirit  of  God  is?"  (Gen.  41:38).  "There  is  none 
good  but  one,  that  is  God"  (Mark  10: 18).  While  we 
should  not  assume  that  the  goodness  of  man  is  identical 
with  the  perfect  goodness  of  God,  it  is  fair  to  assume 
that  nothing  can  be  compatible  with  the  boundless  good- 
ness of  God  which  is  incompatible  with  the  goodness 
which  is  revealed  in  the  lives  of  the  just.  Only  by 
believing  and  discerning  in  consciousness  that  God  has 
virtues  similar  to  or  resembling  human  virtues,  do  we 
come  to  believe  and  know  of  the  moral  perfections  of 
God;  and  of  the  filial  relation  that  exists  between  man 
and  his  Father  in  heaven. 

The  primary  and  celestial  office  of  reason  is  the 
perfection  of  the  soul.  Reason  was  put  into  the 
human  soul  "to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it"  (Gen.  2: 15). 
Reason,  the  masculine  principle  of  the  soul,  is  forever 
bringing  brick  and  slime  (Gen.  11:3),  his  false  opinions 
and  conceits,  and  is  thus  attempting  by  a  process  of 
speculation  to  find  the  way  to  heaven ;  but  this  process, 
this  building  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  has  forever  ended 
the  same  way,  in  the  confusion  of  tongues.  Reason  in 
his  present  fallen  state  does  religion  a  poor  service  when 
speculating  on  the  character  of  God;  but  reason  is 
sufficient,  even  as  we  know  him,  to  be  a  co-worker 
with  God  (i  Cor.  3:912  Cor.  6:  i)  in  a  high  and  holy 
work,  the  perfecting  of  the  soul.  When  reason  has 
done  the  work  that  God  hath  specially  assigned  him, 


190  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  perfecting  of  the  soul,  then  does  man  attain  to  his 
true  estate,  then  does  man  become  conscious  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  then  does  man  "come  into  the 
unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  son 
of  God";  for  all  the  just  are  consciously  the  sons  of 
God;  all  the  just  attain  to  a  knowledge  of  their  divine 
sonship.  "Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God" 
(i  John  3:1-3;  Phil.  2:15).  "Wisdom  in  all  ages 
entering  into  holy  souls,  hath  made  them  friends  of  God 
and  prophets"  (Wisd.  of  Sol.  7:27). 

"If  in  us  dwelt  not  God's  own  might 
How  could  the  godlike  give  delight?" 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE   STORY   OF   JOSEPH 

"Can  we  find  such  a  one  as  this  is,  a  man  in  whom  the  Spirit  of  God 
is?  "(Gen.  41: 38). 

WILLIAM  ELLERY  CHANNING,  in  April,  1841,  the  year 
before  his  death,  in  the  introduction  to  a  volume  of  his 
lectures  and  sermons,  said: 

We  must  start  in  religion  from  our  own  souls.  In  these 
is  the  foundation  of  all  divine  truth.  An  outward  revela- 
tion is  only  possible  and  intelligible  on  the  ground  of  con- 
ceptions and  principles  previously  furnished  by  the  soul. 
Here  is  our  primitive  teacher  and  light.  Let  us  not  dis- 
parage it.  There  are,  indeed,  philosophical  schools  of 
the  present  day,  which  tell  us  that  we  are  to  start  in  all  our 
speculations  from  the  Absolute,  the  Infinite.  But  we  rise 
to  these  conceptions  from  the  contemplation  of  our  own 
nature;  and  even  if  it  were  not  so,  of  what  avail  would  be 
the  notion  of  an  Absolute,  Infinite  existence,  an  Uncaused 
Unity,  if  stripped  of  all  those  intellectual  and  moral  attri- 
butes which  we  learn  only  from  our  own  souls?  What  but 
a  vague  shadow,  a  sounding  name,  is  the  metaphysical 
Deity,  the  substance  without  modes,  the  Being  without 
properties,  the  naked  unity,  which  performs  such  a  part  in 
some  of  our  philosophical  systems?  The  only  God  whom 
our  thoughts  can  rest  on,  and  our  hearts  can  cling  to,  and 
our  consciences  can  recognize,  is  the  God  whose  image 
191 


192  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

dwells  in  our  own  souls.  The  grand  ideas  of  Power,  Reason, 
Wisdom,  Love,  Rectitude,  Holiness,  Blessedness,  that  is,  of 
all  God's  attributes,  come  from  within,  from  the  action  of 
our  own  spiritual  nature.  .  .  .  Thus  the  soul  is  the  spring 
of  our  knowledge  of  God. 

No  one  living  in  modern  times,  no  one  speaking  the 
English  language,  in  our  judgment,  has  ever  spoken 
more  illumined  words  concerning  the  nature,  the  po- 
tential powers,  the  marvelous  possibilities,  and  the 
glory  of  the  human  soul,  than  did  Channing.  This 
was  the  burden,  the  key-note,  of  his  classic  and  chaste 
utterance.  To  the  end  of  his  virtuous  and  exemplary 
life,  he  never  tired  of  heralding  the  glorious  possibilities 
of  the  human  soul.  His  insistence  was,  that  men  in 
their  present  state  of  civilization,  have  little  or  no 
conception  of  the  sublime  possibilities  of  man.  "The 
most  lamentable  scepticism  on  earth,  and  incompar- 
ably the  most  common,  is  a  scepticism  as  to  the  great- 
ness, powers,  and  high  destinies  of  human  nature.  In 
this  greatness  I  desire  to  cherish  an  unwavering  faith." 
Channing's  letters,  lectures,  and  sermons,  covering 
more  than  a  thousand  printed  pages,  are  replete  with 
brilliant  observations  concerning  human  nature. 

"We  must  start  in  religion  from  our  own  souls." 
This  is  precisely  what  the  Scriptures  teach;  it  is  what 
Socrates  and  Plato  taught.  Psychology  is,  therefore, 
the  science  of  sciences.  The  deep  truths  of  human 
nature  were  known  to  the  adepts  of  ancient  wisdom, 
to  the  great  prophets  and  philosophers;  and  this  holy 
science  will  be  revived  in  the  near  future;  and  when 
revived,  it  will  take  precedence  of  all  other  science. 
Man  will  respect  man;  man  will  honor  man,  when  he 
comes  to  know  the  essential  nature  of  his  own  soul, 


The  Story  of  Joseph  193 

and  of  every  human  soul.  When  man  knows  enough 
to  know,  that  he  cannot  wrong  another  without  first 
wronging  himself  and  desecrating  his  own  soul,  then  will 
he  hesitate  to  do  evil.  When  man  knows  enough  to 
know  that  every  evil  thought  and  act  mars  and  wounds 
the  soul,  and  fills  it  with  discord,  inharmony,  and 
pain,  then  he  will  not  be  a  foolish  and  temporizing 
child.  Channing,  when  speaking  on  the  subject  Honor 
Due  to  All  Men,  and  on  the  text  "Honor  all  men" 
(i  Peter  2: 17),  said: 

The  soul  is  to  be  regarded  with  a  religious  reverence 
hitherto  unfelt;  and  the  solemn  claims  of  every  being  to 
whom  this  divine  principle  is  imparted  are  to  be  established 
on  the  ruins  of  those  pernicious  principles,  both  in  Church 
and  State  which  have  so  long  divided  mankind  into  the 
classes  of  the  abject  many,  and  the  self-exalting  few. 
There  is  nothing  of  which  men  know  so  little  as  themselves. 
...  Men  have  as  yet  no  just  respect  for  themselves,  and  of 
consequence  no  just  respect  for  others.  ...  I  hold  that 
nothing  is  to  make  man  a  true  lover  of  man,  but  the  dis- 
covery of  something  interesting  and  great  in  human  nature. 
We  must  see  and  feel  that  a  human  being  is  something 
important,  and  of  immeasurable  importance. 

Channing,  when  discoursing  on  the  teachings  of 
Jesus,  said: 

Jesus  Christ  thought  nothing  worthy  of  his  notice,  but 
the  soul  of  man;  and  the  whole  tenor  of  his  gospel  is,  that 
the  soul  is  capable  of  all  that  is  great  and  excellent,  that  it 
may  become  the  Image  of  God,  that  it  may  ascend  to  the 
glory  and  purity  of  angels.  It  is  constantly  his  doctrine, 
that  man  is  appointed  to  join  the  society  of  heaven,  and 
that  he  will  there  shine  as  the  sun,  that  he  will  exchange 
his  present  imperfection  for  spotless  purity.  .  .  .  These 

13 


194  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

are  views  which  have  little  to  interest  him  who  never 
reflects  on  his  inward  nature,  who  only  feels  that  he  has  a 
body  and  organs  of  sense,  and  who  thinks  the  highest 
happiness  is  found  in  the  gratification  of  the  brute.  But 
there  are  those  who  feel  conscious  of  the  heavenly  principle 
within  them,  who,  at  the  sight  of  distinguished  virtue,  pant 
to  attain  to  its  resemblance,  who  kindle  at  the  thought  of  a 
boundless  progression,  of  a  never-ending  ascent  towards  God. 

It  was  Theodore  Parker,  we  believe,  who  called 
Charming,  the  Socrates  of  the  New  England  School  of 
Transcendentalists.  If  Channing  were  its  Socrates, 
then  Emerson  was  its  Plato.  In  the  Memoirs  of 
Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  the  basic  principle  of  this 
school  is  stated  in  a  sentence.  "Transcendentalism, 
as  viewed  by  its  disciples,  was  a  pilgrimage  from  the 
idolatrous  world  of  creeds  and  rituals  to  the  Tem- 
ple of  the  Living  God  in  the  soul."  Emerson,  like 
his  great  predecessor,  Channing,  taught  that  human 
greatness  consisted  in  the  perfection  of  the  soul. 
"  Wherever  a  man  comes,  there  comes  revelation. 
The  old  is  for  slaves.  When  a  man  comes,  all  books 
are  legible,  all  things  are  transparent,  all  religions 
are  forms.  The  remedy  for  their  deformity  is  first, 
Soul,  and  second,  Soul,  and  ever  more  Soul."  This 
school  did  more,  perhaps,  to  emphasize  the  dignity  of 
the  human  soul,  than  any  other  in  modern  times. 

The  views  of  Channing  on  the  greatness,  powers, 
and  high  destinies  of  human  nature,  we  believe,  a 
proper  prelude  to  the  story  of  Joseph.  Joseph,  like  all 
the  masters  in  Israel,  was  great  because  of  the  purity 
and  perfection  of  his  soul. 

Symbolism  [says  John  Ruskin]  is  the  setting  forth  of  a 
great  truth  by  an  imperfect  and  inferior  sign  (as,  for  instance, 


The  Story  of  Joseph  195 

of  the  hope  of  the  resurrection  by  the  form  of  the  Phoenix) ; 
and  it  is  almost  always  employed  by  men  in  their  most 
serious  moods  of  faith,  rarely  in  recreation.  Men  who  use 
symbols  forcibly  are  almost  always  true  believers  in  what 
they  symbolize.  But  personification  is  the  bestowing  of  a 
human  or  living  form  upon  an  abstract  idea:  it  is,  in  most 
cases,  a  mere  recreation  of  the  fancy,  and  is  apt  to  disturb 
the  belief  in  the  reality  of  the  things  personified.  Thus 
symbolism  constituted  the  entire  system  of  the  Mosaic 
dispensation:  it  occurs  in  every  word  of  Christ's  teaching; 
it  attaches  perpetual  mystery  to  the  last  and  most  solemn 
act  of  his  life.  But  I  do  not  recollect  a  single  instance  of 
personification  in  any  of  his  words. 

What  is  psychology?  "It  is  the  description  and 
explanation  of  the  states  of  consciousness  as  such," 
said  the  late  Prof.  William  James.  Is  there  any  other 
method  in  our  present  condition  of  existence,  of  describ- 
ing and  explaining  states  of  consciousness,  other  than 
by  the  use  of  the  tangible  and  the  visible?  On  reflec- 
tion, it  would  seem  that  there  is  no  way  of  describing 
and  explaining  the  subjective  except  by  the  use  of 
parables,  allegories,  and  symbols. 

The  low  valley  of  the  Nile,  a  great  monotonous 
expanse,  the  abode  of  a  luxurious,  pleasure-loving,  and 
warlike  people,  is  itself  a  fit  symbol  of  a  low  and  sensuous 
state  of  consciousness.  In  the  book  of  Exodus,  we  are 
told  how  the  children  of  Israel  are  led  out  of  this  valley 
of  carnality  and  death;  and  how  they  were  swiftly 
carried  into  the  midst  of  the  mighty  mountain  scenery 
of  Arabia.  They  were  led  into  this  arid  and  wilderness 
land,  that  they  may  honor  and  worship  God ;  that  they 
may  offer  a  "sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  their  God"  (Ex. 
5:3);  in  this  region,  intermediary  between  Egypt  and 
the  promised  land,  the  Israelites  are  brought  near  unto 


196  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

God.  "You  have  seen  what  I  did  unto  the  Egyptians, 
and  how  I  bare  you  on  eagles'  wings,  and  brought 
you  unto  myself"  (Ex.  19:4);  in  this  wilderness  they 
are  said  to  be  led  and  taught  of  God  (Deut.  8:2,  3). 
This  desert  land  is  a  symbol  descriptive  of  a  state  of 
consciousness  above  the  Egyptian  state;  and  above 
and  beyond  the  desert  is  the  promised  land  fair  in  cli- 
mate and  bounteous  in  resource,  a  land  forever  dear 
to  the  children  of  Israel,  "a  good  land,  a  land  without 
scarceness,  a  land  wherein  man  shall  lack  nothing, 
a  land  wherein  man  shall  bless  God"  (Deut.  8:7-10). 
This  land  at  once  suggests  a  high  and  holy  state  of 
consciousness,  a  state  of  perfect  rest  and  peace. 

Little  is  known  of  the  early  life  of  Joseph.  It  is 
written  that  he  was  the  eleventh  son  of  Jacob,  and 
that  he  was  the  first-born  of  the  fair  Rachel;  and  that 
"  Israel  loved  Joseph  more  than  all  his  children,  because 
he  was  the  son  of  his  old  age:  and  he  made  him  a  coat 
of  many  colors"  (Gen.  37:3);  and  that  when  the 
brethren  of  Joseph  saw  that  their  father  loved  him 
more  than  he  loved  them,  "they  hated  him,  and  could 
not  speak  peaceably  unto  him."  It  is  also  said  that 
Joseph  dreamed  dreams  portending  that  his  brethren 
should  do  obeisance  to  him,  and  that  his  brethren 
"hated  him  still  more  for  his  dreams";  and  that  they 
sold  him  to  a  company  of  Ishmaelites  come  from  Gilead 
with  their  camels  bearing  spicery  and  balm  and  myrrh, 
going  to  carry  it  down  to  Egypt. 

The  story  of  Joseph's  life  is  largely  legendary,  but 
these  legends  are  not  fiction;  they  are  the  antithesis 
of  fiction;  they  are  deeper  than  history;  they  are 
psychological.  History  has  to  do  with  events  in  time; 
psychology  with  states  of  consciousness.  These  legends 
teach  that  Joseph's  father  and  mother  were  highly 


The  Story  of  Joseph  197 

evolved,  were  spiritually  developed,  even  before  his 
birth ;  and  that  Joseph  was  a  thoughtful  and  meditative 
child;  that  he  was  precocious.  "His  brethren  envied 
him  .  .  .  and  they  said  one  to  another,  Behold  this 
dreamer  cometh"  (Gen.  37:11,  19).  John  Ruskin, 
England's  famous  social  reformer  and  art  critic,  when 
speaking  of  the  significance  of  colors,  said:  "Of  all 
God's  gifts  to  the  sight  of  man,  color  is  the  holiest,  the 
most  divine,  the  most  solemn.  .  .  .  The  purest  and  most 
thoughtful  minds  are  those  which  love  color  the  most. 
.  .  .  Not  without  meaning  was  the  love  of  Israel  to  his 
chosen  son  expressed  by  the  coat  "of  many  colors." 

Jacob,  in  the  days  of  Joseph's  childhood,  had  attained 
to  wisdom,  to  seership ;  he  had  prevailed  with  God,  and 
his  name  was  changed  to  Israel;  and  while  his  sons 
envied  Joseph,  he  himself  "observed  the  sayings"  of 
his  precocious  son  (Gen.  37:  n);  for  what  he  then  said 
portended  future  greatness.  They  who  are  destined 
to  greatness  often  give  evidence  of  it  in  their  early 
childhood  (Luke  2:51).  The  spicery  and  balm  and 
myrrh  that  the  Ishmaelites  were  carrying  down  to 
Egypt  suggest  the  purity  of  Joseph's  life;  just  as  the 
gold,  and  frankincense,  and  myrrh  which  the  wise  men 
are  said  to  have  presented  to  the  infant  Jesus,  prefigured 
the  perfection  of  his  character. 

The  story  of  the  human  soul,  as  related  in  the 
fortieth  chapter  of  Genesis  is  doubly  veiled.  On  its 
face  it  purports  to  be  the  interpretation  of  two  dreams 
by  Joseph.  It  is  written  that  the  chief  butler  and  the 
chief  baker  had  offended  their  lord,  the  king  of  Egypt, 
and  that  he  put  them  into  the  prison,  "the  place  where 
Joseph  was  bound."  According  to  the  symbolism  of 
the  Scriptures,  everyone  is  in  bondage,  in  prison,  is 
bound,  who  is  obsessed  by  the  things  of  the  world; 


198  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

everyone  is  in  bondage  who  is  under  the  control  of  the 
chief  baker.  The  chief  baker  represents  the  lower 
principle  of  the  human  soul,  the  seat  of  the  carnal 
appetites.  He  who  panders  to  his  carnal  appetites 
is  in  prison  with  the  chief  baker,  but  he  who  conquers 
and  destroys  the  chief  baker,  his  animal  nature,  is  freed 
from  bondage,  and  is  a  master  in  Israel.  The  virtue 
of  temperance  is  made  manifest  in  the  restraint  and 
mastery  of  the  carnal  appetites.  John  Ruskin,  when 
speaking  of  intemperance,  said:  "Men  are  held  in- 
temperate only  when  their  desires  overcome  or  prevent 
the  action  of  their  reason,  and  they  are  indeed  intem- 
perate in  the  exact  degree  in  which  such  prevention  or 
interference  takes  place." 

"In  my  dream,  said  the  chief  butler,  behold,  a  vine 
was  before  me;  and  in  the  vine  were  three  branches," 
and  the  chief  butler  proceeds  to  say  that  the  vine 
blossomed  and  brought  forth  ripe  grapes,  and  that  he 
took  of  the  grapes,  and  pressed  them  into  Pharaoh's 
cup,  and  gave  the  cup  into  Pharaoh's  hand.  This  is 
the  interpretation  said  Joseph:  "The  three  branches 
are  three  days;  yet  within  three  days  shall  Pharaoh 
lift  up  thine  head,  and  restore  thee  into  thy  place; 
and  thou  shalt  deliver  Pharaoh's  cup  into  his  hand, 
after  the  former  manner  when  thou  wast  his  butler." 
The  chief  butler  is  the  representative  of  reason.  The 
mind  is  the  man;  the  son  of  man,  the  man  must  be 
lifted  up  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness. 
The  virtue  of  reason  is  wisdom;  ripe  grapes  are  a  symbol 
of  wisdom.  When  the  mind  is  prostituted  and  sensuous, 
then  is  man  fallen,  then  is  man  in  prison  with  the  chief 
baker;  but  when  the  mind  is  lifted  up  it  attains  to  its 
true  office ;  it  is  the  custodian  of  the  king's  cup,  and  the 
dispenser  of  ripe  grapes. 


The  Story  of  Joseph  199 

The  chief  baker  tells  his  dream.  "Behold,  I  had 
three  white  baskets  on  my  head ;  and  in  the  uppermost 
basket  there  was  all  manner  of  baked  meats  for  Pharaoh; 
and  the  birds  did  eat  them  out  of  the  basket  upon  my 
head."  This  is  the  interpretation,  said  Joseph :  "The 
three  baskets  are  three  days :  yet  within  three  days  shall 
Pharaoh  lift  up  thy  head  from  off  thee,  and  shall  hang 
thee  on  a  tree;  and  the  birds  shall  eat  thy  flesh  from  off 
thee."  The  birds,  the  symbol  of  mentality,  eat  of  the 
baked  meats ;  as  long  as  the  mind  is  addicted  to  baked 
meats  man  is  fallen;  as  long  as  he  is  obsessed  by  the 
things  of  the  world,  he  is  in  prison.  The  mind  becomes 
noble  or  ignoble  according  to  the  nature  of  the  food 
it  feeds  upon.  The  birds  feeding  upon  baked  meats  is 
descriptive  of  mentality  at  its  nadir,  mentality  on  the 
plane  of  the  carnal  world.  A  mind  devoted  to  the 
contemplation  of  high  and  holy  things  becomes  holy. 
Money  represents  carnal  things.  "The  love  of  money 
is  the  root  of  all  evil"  (i  Tim.  6: 10).  "He  that  is 
dead  [to  the  things  of  the  world]  is  freed  from  sin" 
(Rom.  6 17). 

"And  it  came  to  pass  the  third  day,  which  was 
Pharaoh's  birthday,  that  he  made  a  feast  to  all  his 
servants.  .  .  .  And  he  restored  the  chief  butler  unto  his 
butlership  again.  .  .  .  But  he  hanged  the  chief  baker: 
as  Joseph  had  interpreted  unto  them."  Joseph  has 
attained  to  the  third  day;  he  is  resurrected  from  the 
dead.  "It  is  appointed  unto  man  once  to  die  [to 
the  world]  but  after  this  the  judgment, "  the  crisis,  the 
baptism  with  fire.  Joseph's  soul  is  now  upright  before 
God;  the  chief  butler  is  lifted  up;  he  is  exalted;  he  is 
a  dispenser  of  wisdom.  The  chief  baker  is  crucified; 
he  is  hanged  on  a  tree.  Joseph  has  conquered  his 
five  kings ;  he  has  destroyed  the  king  of  lust,  the  fiercest 


200  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  the  five,  the  king  that  always  counsels  rebellion 
about  the  thirteenth  year  (Gen.  14:4).  Joseph  was 
tempted  of  this  king  in  the  day  and  hour  that  he  met 
Potiphar's  wife;  and  he  proved  himself  the  master  of 
this  fiery  king,  the  prince  of  rebellion.  "There  is  none 
greater  in  this  house  than  I.  ...  How  can  I  do  this 
great  wickedness  and  sin  against  God?"  (Gen.  39:9). 
The  mind  is  the  man.  Reason,  as  Plato  has  said,  is 
the  directing  and  measuring  virtue,  since  it  must 
govern  the  soul.  "There  is  none  greater  in  this  house 
than  I."  A  pure  mind  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God. 
Mentality  is  spiritual;  he  who  violates  reason,  offends 
against  God.  "  Order  is  Truth, "  said  Thomas  Carlyle. 
"  Evil  is  evil  because  it  is  unnatural. "  It  is  a  dissonance, 
a  departure  from  the  divine  order. 

When  man  knows  enough  to  know  that  all  wicked- 
ness and  sin  are  against  God,  against  the  divine  order, 
and  that  every  violation  of  heaven's  law  brings  unerr- 
ingly a  punishment  proportioned  to  the  wrong,  then 
will  he  exclaim  as  did  Joseph:  "How  can  I  do  this 
great  wickedness  and  sin  against  God?"  "And 
David  said  unto  Nathan,  I  have  sinned  against  the 
Lord"  (2  Sam.  12: 13).  David  was  great  enough  to 
confess  his  sins,  and  good  enough  to  feel  the  pro- 
foundest  remorse.  "I  acknowledged  my  sin  .  .  . 
I  will  confess  my  transgressions"  (Ps.  32:5).  "He 
that  covereth  his  sins  shall  not  prosper;  but  whoso 
confesseth  and  forsaketh  them  shall  have  mercy" 
(Prov.  28: 13).  He  who  confesses  his  sins  and  for- 
sakes his  evil  ways,  and  does  what  he  can  to  make 
reparation,  is  in  the  way  of  forgiveness,  before  God  and 
man.  Before  invoking  the  blessings  of  heaven,  let  man 
confess  his  sins,  forsake  his  evil  ways,  and  make  repara- 
tion; this  is  the  injunction  of  the  masters.  "First 


The  Story  of  Joseph  201 

be  reconciled  to  thy  brother,  and  then  come  and  offer 
thy  gift"  (Matt.  5:23,  24). 

Joseph  relied  upon  the  chief  butler  to  get  him  out 
of  prison.  "Make  mention  of  me  to  Pharaoh,  and 
bring  me  out  of  this  house"  (Gen.  40: 14).  No  man 
ever  escaped  out  of  the  house  of  bondage  without  the 
faithful  assistance  of  the  chief  butler,  and  without 
first  having  conquered  and  destroyed  the  chief  baker. 
It  is  written  that  the  chief  butler  "forgot  Joseph" 
(Gen.  40:  23).  The  exit  from  the  house  of  bondage  is 
always  attended  with  suffering ;  to  die  to  one  state  is  to 
be  born  into  another.  One  must  die  to  the  animal 
kingdom  of  the  world  in  order  to  be  born  into  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  They  who  experience  this  death, 
this  re-birth,  this  travail  of  soul,  feel  in  their  hearts 
that  they  are  forgotten.  "My  familiar  friends  have 
forgotten  me"  ,Qob  19:14).  "I  am  forgotten  as  a 
dead  man  out  of  mind"  (Ps.  31 :  12 ;  Amos  6:6;  Jonah 
2:4).  "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me?"  (Ps.  22 :  i).  Mysticism,  by  Evelyn  Underhill, 
is  a  book  which  contains  much  of  interest  to  students 
of  psychology.  In  this  book  is  a  chapter  entitled: 
"The  Dark  Night  of  the  Soul,"  in  which  she  says: 
"Psychologically,  then,  the  'Dark  Night  of  the  Soul' 
is  due  to  the  double  fact  of  the  exhaustion  of  an 
old  state,  and  the  growth  towards  a  new  state  of 
consciousness." 

Joseph,  like  all  the  highly  evolved,  like  all  who 
have  attained  to  self-mastery  and  to  wisdom,  experi- 
enced that  "horror  of  great  darkness,"  that  "dark 
night  of  the  soul"  that  marks  the  beginning  of  the 
third  day.  The  Man,  the  human,  must  wrestle  with 
the  animal  and  wound  it  in  the  thigh,  as  the  man 
wounded  Jacob;  and  this  battle  must  be  persisted  in, 


202  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

if  man  would  attain  to  his  own,  until  the  animal  is 
conquered,  "until  the  breaking  of  the  day"  (Gen. 
32:24).  Indescribable  anguish  and  darkness  precedes 
the  dawn,  the  breaking  of  the  eternal  day.  "He  that 
hath  suffered  in  the  flesh  [and  died  to  the  animal  king- 
dom] hath  ceased  from  sin"  (i  Peter  4:1).  Religion  is 
founded  upon  the  idea  that  there  is  a  kingdom  of  Unity, 
Love,  Rectitude,  Holiness,  and  Blessedness,  essentially 
human,  that  transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the 
world.  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  if  my 
kingdom  were  of  this  world  then  would  my  servants 
fight."  The  luxurious,  the  pleasure-loving,  the  car- 
nally minded,  have  no  conscious  knowledge  of  this 
high  and  holy  kingdom.  They  that  lie  upon  ivory 
beds,  and  stretch  themselves  upon  their  couches, 
and  eat  the  lambs  out  of  the  flock,  and  drink  wine  in 
bowls,  and  anoint  themselves  with  the  chief  ointments, 
"are  not  grieved  because  of  the  afflictions  of  Joseph" 
(Amos  6 14-6). 

In  the  forty-first  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  is  written 
that  Pharaoh  dreamed,  and  that  in  the  morning  his 
spirit  was  troubled,  and  that  he  sent  for  his  magicians 
and  wise  men,  and  told  them  what  he  had  dreamed, 
"but  there  was  none  that  could  interpret  them  unto 
Pharaoh.  Then  spake  the  chief  butler  unto  Pharaoh, 
saying,  /  do  remember  my  faults  this  day"  The  chief 
butler  then  tells  the  king  how  he  and  the  chief  baker 
were  put  into  prison,  and  how  a  Hebrew  interpreted 
their  dreams.  "Then  Pharaoh  sent  and  called  Joseph, 
and  they  brought  him  hastily  out  of  the  dungeon: 
and  he  shaved  himself,  and  changed  his  raiment,  and 
came  in  unto  Pharaoh."  Joseph  shaved  himself,  and 
changed  his  raiment ;  his  hair  is  clipped  off,  and  his  old 
raiment  is  cast  away;  these  are  symbols  of  outward 


The  Story  of  Joseph  203 

things.  He  has  overcome  the  world;  "he  is  called 
out  of  the  dungeon."  Joseph  has  cast  off  the  grave- 
clothes  that  bound  him;  loose  him,  and  let  him  come 
forth,  says  the  King  (John  11:44).  Tnis  is  tne  storv 
of  the  resurrection.  "Jesus  said  unto  Martha,  I  am 
the  resurrection  and  the  life;  he  that  believeth  in  me, 
though  he  were  dead  [though  he  were  in  the  carnal 
state]  yet  shall  he  live"  (John  11:25).  Joseph,  like 
all  the  masters  in  Israel,  was  resurrected  from  the 
dead  when  in  the  world,  while  his  soul  abided  in  a 
body  of  flesh;  the  masters  are  they  that  demonstrate 
in  their  lives  the  Law  of  Human  Life,  the  way  of  life. 
"I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life." 

"I  do  remember  my  faults  this  day."  When  the 
son  of  man,  the  mind,  is  lifted  up,  when  it  is  free  from 
the  obsession  of  things,  when  it  has  conquered  and 
destroyed  the  vestiges  of  animalism  within  the  soul, 
then  does  man  remember  "his  faults,"  then  does  man 
counsel  restraint,  and  charity,  and  mercy,  and  justice. 
Paul  tells  Titus  to  speak  evil  of  no  man,  and  to  be 
gentle  and  merciful.  "For  we  ourselves  also  were 
sometimes  foolish,  disobedient,  deceived,  serving  divers 
lusts  and  pleasures,  living  in  malice  and  envy,  hateful, 
and  hating  one  another"  (Titus  3:3).  Men  are  un- 
believing and  irreligious  because  their  lives  are  low  and 
animal;  they  are  unmindful  of  their  faults  because 
they  are  corrupt  and  carnally  minded.  Moses  is  the 
name  of  him  who  was  drawn  out  of  the  waters  of  the 
Nile;  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  dove,  descended  upon  Jesus 
when  he  went  up  out  of  the  waters  of  the  Jordan. 
Water  is  a  symbol  of  carnal  mind;  they  who  are  con- 
scious of  the  kingdom  of  God  are  said  to  be  drawn  out 
of  the  water,  or  waters.  "He  drew  me  out  of  many 
waters"  (2  Sam.  22:17;  Ps.  18: 16;  144:7).  Joseph 


204  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

is  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit  (John  3:5);  he  is 
consciously  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

"And  Pharaoh  said  to  Joseph,  I  have  dreamed  a 
dream,  and  there  is  none  that  can  interpret  it."  .  .  . 
"And  Joseph  answered  Pharaoh,  saying,  It  is  not  in  me: 
God  shall  give  Pharaoh  an  answer  of  Peace"  (Gen. 
41: 1 6).  The  truth,  the  answer  that  satisfies,  "is  not 
in  me:  God  shall  give  Pharaoh  an  answer  of  Peace." 
"I  do  nothing  of  myself"  (John  8:28).  "All  things 
proceed  from  One  Eternal  Energy,"  said  Herbert 
Spencer.  A  righteous  human  soul  is  an  organ  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Joseph  in  obedience  to  the  Spirit  of  God 
in  his  soul  interpreted  the  dream  of  Pharaoh;  and  the 
interpretation  was  "an  answer  of  Peace"  to  his  troubled 
soul.  "And  Pharaoh  said  unto  his  servants,  Can  we 
find  such  a  one  as  this  is,  a  man  in  whom  the  Spirit 
of  God  is?"  "Who  is  he  that  condemneth?"  (Rom. 
8:34).  Who  is  he  that  speaks  the  truth  in  any  pre- 
sence? "It  is  Christ";  it  is  Israel;  It  is  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  a  righteous  human  soul. 

"Thou  shalt  be  over  my  house,  and  according  unto 
thy  word  shall  all  my  people  be  ruled:  only  in  the 
throne  will  I  be  greater  than  thou.  .  .  .  And  he  made 
him  to  ride  in  the  second  chariot  which  he  had;  and 
they  cried  before  him,  Bow  the  knee:  and  he  made  him 
ruler  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt"  (Gen.  41:40,  43). 
"The  land  of  Egypt,  the  land  of  Ham"  (Ps.  105:23), 
represents  the  lower  principle  of  the  human  soul. 
Joseph  ruled  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt ;  he  is  a  master 
in  Israel;  he  is  the  exponent  of  wisdom.  Wisdom  is 
entitled  to  ride  in  the  second  chariot;  and  it  is  the 
duty  of  all  in  the  land  of  Egypt  to  bow  the  knee  at  the 
approach  of  wisdom.  This  marvelous  allegory  would 
seem  to  teach  that  God  alone  is  superior  to  wisdom. 


The  Story  of  Joseph  205 

"Only  in  the  throne  will  I  be  greater  than  them."  "It 
is  impossible  that  the  mentality  which  reasons  within 
us,"  said  Pascal,  "should  be  other  than  Spiritual." 
He  who  offends  against  reason,  offends  against  God; 
evil  is  unnatural;  it  is  a  violation  of  the  divine  order. 
He  who  is  faithful  to  reason  honors  God.  "All  men 
should  honor  the  son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father" 


"And  Pharaoh  called  Joseph's  name  Zaphnath-pa- 
aneah;  and  he  gave  him  to  wife  Asenath  the  daughter 
of  Poti-pherah,  priest  of  On.  .  .  .  And  Joseph  was  thirty 
years  old  when  he  stood  before  Pharaoh,  king  of  Egypt." 
Many  explanations  have  been  made  of  the  name  given 
to  Joseph  by  the  King.  Modern  Egyptologists  have 
in  the  main  agreed  that  the  last  part  of  this  name, 
"paaneah,  "  means  "the  life."  Names  were  given  to 
persons  in  ancient  times  descriptive  of  their  characters  ; 
in  a  word,  when  the  character  of  an  individual  had 
undergone  a  great  and  substantial  change,  he  was 
given  a  new  name  to  correspond  with  his  new  character. 
In  the  light  of  this  principle  so  often  illustrated  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  meaning  given  to  the  last  part  of 
Joseph's  new  name  by  the  Egyptologists,  it  is  reasonable 
to  believe  that  this  new  name  means,  "the  resurrection 
and  the  life."  Some  translators  have  said  that  this 
name  in  the  Egyptian  tongue  means  "A  Savior  of 
the  world."  The  two  interpretations  stated  seem  to 
be  synonymous,  for  the  reason  that  every  master,  or 
Savior  represents  in  his  own  person  "the  resurrection 
and  the  life."  The  Saviors  of  mankind  are  the 
resurrected  ones;  they  are  those  who  have  suffered  in 
the  flesh,  who  have  died  to  the  animal  kingdom  of 
the  world,  and  who  are  consciously  related  to  the  King- 
dom of  God.  "No  sign  shall  be  given,  but  the  sign  of 


206  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  prophet  Jonas"  (Matt.  12:39).  The  sign  of  the 
prophet  is  demonstrated  in  the  life  of  the  prophet. 
"I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life." 

Asenath,  the  name  of  Joseph's  wife,  is  said  to  mean, 
"she  that  hath  fled";  she  that  hath  fled  from  idolatry. 
Idolatry  is  represented  in  the  love  and  adoration  of 
visible  and  earthly  things;  as  long  as  the  affections  are 
set  upon  the  things  of  the  world,  upon  things  below, 
the  mind  and  heart  are  dead  to  the  spiritual.  Asenath 
is  the  representative  of  Joseph's  soul,  and  of  every 
righteous  soul.  Every  righteous  soul  attains  to  wisdom. 
Wisdom  is  faithful  to  her  own.  "When  the  righteous 
was  sold,  she  forsook  him  not,  but  delivered  him  from 
sin:  she  went  down  with  him  into  the  pit,  and  left 
him  not  in  bonds,  till  she  brought  him  the  sceptre  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God  "  (Wisd.  of  Sol.  10:13,14).  Joseph 
was  sold  for  a  servant;  his  feet  were  hurt  with  fetters; 
he  was  led  in  irons.  "The  word  of  the  Lord  tried  him, " 
until  the  time  when  the  word,  the  truth  was  made  known 
unto  him;  it  was  then  that  the  King  sent  and  loosed 
him,  and  let  him  go  free ;  it  was  then  that  he  was  clothed 
upon  with  power  "to  bind  the  King's  princes;  and 
to  teach  his  senators  wisdom"  (Ps.  105: 17-22).  It  is 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  heart  of  man  that  makes  him 
the  organ  of  wisdom,  of  truth,  and  of  faith.  It  is  the 
Spirit  that  bestows  character.  It  is  the  Spirit  that  binds 
and  looses  in  Heaven  and  earth.  To  the  extent  that  man 
is  the  organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit  he  is  free,  and  to  the 
extent  that  he  offends  against  It  he  is  bound  (Matt. 
16: 19). 

"And  unto  Joseph  were  born  two  sons  before  the 
years  of  the  famine  came,  which  Asenath  .  .  .  bear 
unto  him;  and  Joseph  called  the  name  of  the  first-born 
Manasseh :  For  God,  said  he,  hath  made  me  forget  all 


The  Story  of  Joseph  207 

my  toil,  and  all  my  father's  house.  And  the  name  of 
the  second  called  he  Ephraim:  For  God  hath  caused 
me  to  be  fruitful  in  the  land  of  my  affliction."  The 
affections  are  first  developed.  Manasseh  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  heart.  A  pure  and  virtuous  heart  makes 
man  forget  his  past  troubles.  "If  thou  prepare  thine 
heart,  .  .  .  thou  shalt  forget  thy  misery,  and  remember 
it  as  waters  that  pass  away"  (Job  u:  13,  16).  When 
the  affections  are  set  upon  things  above,  they  are 
unmindful  of  things  below.  Ephraim  is  the  second 
born;  he  represents  mentality,  that  which  grows  in 
power.  "Of  the  increase  of  his  government  and 
peace  there  shall  be  no  end"  (Isa.  9:7).  The  Mind  is 
the  man.  That  is  most  fruitful  and  most  glorious  that 
most  resembles  God.  "God  is  in  One  Mind"  (Job 
23: 13) ;  and  man  is  fruitful  to  the  extent  that  he  images 
the  divine  Mind.  Joseph's  sons  were  born  "before 
the  years  of  the  famine  came";  the  mind  and  the 
heart  must  attain  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection  before 
the  soul  is  prepared  for  the  famine,  the  trials  and 
temptations  of  the  desert  life,  "the  great  and  dreadful 
day  of  the  Lord"  (Mai.  4:5).  The  .wise  are  they  who 
"Make  ready  against  the  third  day"  (Ex.  19:11; 
Luke  13: 32,  33). 

That  Joseph  was  the  son  of  Jacob,  that  he  had  a 
number  of  brothers,  that  he  was  sold  into  slavery  to 
a  company  of  merchants  on  their  way  to  Egypt,  that 
he  underwent  great  suffering  and  was  finally  liberated, 
that  he  had  a  wife  and  sons,  and  that  he  attained 
to  great  power  and  was  revered  by  the  people  of  Egypt 
and  their  king,  are  statements  of  a  historic  nature 
quite  as  probable  and  credible  as  any  other  recorded  in 
ancient  history.  The  question  then  is,  are  the  Scrip- 
tures to  be  regarded  from  a  historic  or  a  psychological 


208  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

standpoint?  It  is  submitted  that  while  history  is  a 
necessary  handmaid  of  the  Scriptures,  it  is  but  secondary 
and  incidental  to  their  real  object.  The  Scriptures  are 
intended  to  teach,  and  do  teach,  the  way  of  salva- 
tion; and  this  process  is  essentially  psychological.  It, 
therefore,  follows  that  the  life  of  Joseph,  and  of  Moses, 
and  of  Jesus,  and  of  all  the  great  of  which  the  Scriptures 
make  mention  is  to  be  contemplated  in  the  light  of 
psychology,  in  the  light  of  a  process. 

The  chapter  under  consideration,  the  forty-first  of 
Genesis,  together  with  the  last  four  verses  of  the 
preceding  chapter,  is  a  record  of  the  celebration  of 
Joseph's  resurrection  from  the  dead.  In  a  word,  it  is 
the  celebration  of  the  greatest  event  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge;  it  is  the  celebration  of  man's  death  to 
the  carnal  world,  and  his  birth  into  a  high  and  holy 
kingdom  that  transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the 
world.  That  such  an  event  is  possible  of  attainment 
should  awaken  in  the  mind  and  heart  of  every  rational 
being  unutterable  gratitude  and  reverence  toward 
God,  the  Creator,  and  should  move  all  such  beings  to 
righteous  and  holy  endeavor.  No  event  is  so  worthy 
of  joy  and  of  celebration  as  this ;  for  it  heralds  the  coming 
of  the  son  of  God.  With  the  coming  of  the  prophet, 
"God  hath  visited  His  people"  (Luke  7: 16).  "Abra- 
ham saw  my  day  and  rejoiced"  (John  8:56).  Let 
the  soul  of  man,  the  daughter  of  Zion,  rejoice  because 
of  the  good  tidings  of  great  joy.  "Rejoice  greatly,  O 
daughter  of  Zion;  shout,  O  daughter  of  Jerusalem: 
Behold,  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee:  he  is  just,  he  points 
the  way  of  salvation;  he  is  lowly;  he  rides  upon  an  ass" 
(Zech.  9:9).  The  domestic  ass  represents  the  simple, 
the  lowly,  the  obedient,  the  serviceable ;  and  the  horse, 
the  pomp  and  glory  of  the  world.  "Woe  to  them  that 


The  Story  of  Joseph  209 

go  down  to  Egypt  for  help;  and  stay  on  horses,  and 
trust  in  chariots"  (Isa.  31 :  i). 

There  is  a  marked  similarity  between  what  is  said 
of  Joseph's  resurrection  in  the  Scriptures  under  con- 
sideration, and  what  is  said  of  Jesus'  resurrection  in  the 
second  chapter  of  John.  The  chief  butler  was  lifted  up 
on  the  third  day,  and  on  this  day  the  chief  baker  was 
hanged.  "And  the  third  day  there  was  a  marriage  in 
Cana  of  Galilee."  When  the  people  cried  to  Pharaoh 
for  bread,  the  symbol  of  truth,  "Pharaoh  said  unto  all 
the  Egyptians,  Go  unto  Joseph;  what  he  saith  unto 
you,  do."  When  the  people  at  Cana  wanted  wine,  the 
symbol  of  wisdom  and  truth,  "Jesus'  mother  saith 
unto  the  servants,  Whatsoever  he  saith  unto  you,  do 
it."  The  first  public  miracle  which  Joseph  did,  that 
"manifested  forth  his  glory,"  and  caused  Pharaoh 
and  his  servants  to  believe  on  him,  was  his  interpreta- 
tion of  Pharaoh's  dream.  This  "was  good  in  the  eyes 
of  Pharaoh,  and  in  the  eyes  of  all  his  servants.  And 
Pharaoh  said  unto  his  servants,  Can  we  find  such  a  one 
as  this  is,  a  man  in  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  is? "  "This 
beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and 
manifested  forth  his  glory;  and  his  disciples  believed  on 
him." 

Why  is  the  celebration  of  the  resurrection  and 
glory  of  Jesus  called  the  marriage  of  Cana?  This 
marriage  is  the  celebration  of  a  perfected  union  between 
a  pure  mind  and  a  virtuous  heart;  it  represents  the 
union  of  Wisdom  and  Love;  it  is  what  Swedenborg 
called  the  "celestial  marriage."  Justice,  according  to 
Plato,  is  not  founded  upon  any  outward  thing,  but  it 
represents  the  perfection  of  the  soul  itself.  The  virtue 
of  Reason  is  Wisdom,  said  Plato ;  it  is  the  directing  and 
measuring  virtue,  since  it  must  govern  the  soul,  it 


210  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

is  the  virtue  of  the  head;  Valor  is  the  virtue  of  the 
heart,  the  pure  in  heart  are  fearless,  the  heart  is  the 
seat  of  love,  "perfect  love  casteth  out  fear";  Temper- 
ance is  the  virtue  by  which  the  sensuous  and  carnal 
desires  of  the  soul  are  restrained  and  destroyed;  and 
lastly,  Justice  is  the  crowning  and  all  inclusive  virtue 
that  represents  the  poise,  the  balance,  the  unity,  in 
brief,  the  perfection  of  the  soul. 

In  the  second  chapter  of  John  it  is  said  that  Jesus 
drove  the  animals  out  of  the  temple.  "Do  you  not 
know  that  your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  living  God?" 
(i  Cor.  6:  19).  "What  agreement  hath  the  temple  of 
God  with  idols?"  (2  Cor.  6:  16).  The  driving  of  the 
animals  and  money-changers  out  of  the  temple  is  a 
figure  illustrative  of  the  process  whereby  the  soul 
is  freed  from  its  animal  traits.  "Men  and  women  are 
only  half  human"  says  Emerson  in  his  essay  on  His- 
tory. When  Jesus  spoke  of  driving  out  the  animals, 
he  spoke  of  the  necessity  of  freeing  the  soul  from  the 
vestiges  of  animalism.  What  are  the  vestiges  of 
animalism?  Falsehood,  hypocrisy,  lust,  greed,  super- 
stition, envy,  malice,  revenge,  and  murder.  These 
are  some  of  the  animal  traits,  some  of  the  devils,  that 
must  be  cast  out  of  the  temple,  if  man  would  attain  to 
greatness.  These  devils  inhere  in  the  souls  of  un- 
regenerate  men.  The  physical  animal  body  of  man  is 
on  the  plane  of  the  lower  principle  of  the  soul.  When 
the  Jews  asked  Jesus  what  is  meant  by  driving  the 
animals  out  of  the  temple,  he  at  once  replied  that  he 
referred  to  his  body.  "He  spake  of  the  temple  of  his 
body"  (John  2:21).  Does  any  one  suppose  that 
Joseph  who  ruled  "over  all  the  land  of  Egypt,"  who 
had  overcome  the  world,  had  not  first  driven  the 
animals  out  of  the  temple?  Is  it  possible  for  any 


The  Story  of  Joseph  211 

human  soul  to  attain  to  perfection  without  being  free 
from  the  vestiges  of  animalism? 

Joseph,  and  Moses,  and  Jesus  were  Masters  in 
Israel;  and  they,  like  all  that  have  overcome  the  world, 
like  all  that  have  attained  to  the  "unchangeable  priest- 
hood, the  order  of  Melchisedec"  (Heb.  7:11, 24) 
teach  the  same  doctrine.  They  are  related  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  and  are  the  organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
"Holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost"  (2  Peter  1:21;  Luke  1:70;  John  5:30). 
It  stands  to  reason  that  they  who  are  related  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  and  are  the  organs  of  His  Spirit,  teach 
the  same  doctrine  concerning  the  human  soul,  and  the 
mode  and  manner  of  its  evolution.  "Go  unto  Joseph; 
what  he  saith  to  you,  do"  (Gen.  41 :  55).  "His  mother 
saith  unto  the  servants,  Whatsoever  he  saith  unto  you, 
do  it"  (John  2:5). 

Joseph  is  a  master  in  Israel;  "he  is  a  fruitful  bough 
by  a  well;  whose  branches  run  over  the  wall"  (Gen. 
49:  22).  A  wall  suggests  an  inclosure,  a  limitation;  but 
the  power  and  greatness  of  Joseph  extends  over  and 
beyond  the  wall.  Joseph  is  a  dispenser  of  the  bread 
of  life  not  only  to  the  people  of  Egypt,  but  to  the 
famishing  in  all  lands.  "And  Jacob  said,  Behold, 
I  have  heard  that  there  is  corn  in  Egypt.  .  .  .  And 
Joseph's  ten  brethren  went  down  to  buy  corn  in  Egypt. 
.  .  .  And  Joseph  was  the  governor  over  the  land.  .  .  . 
"And  Joseph's  brethren  came,  and  bowed  themselves 
down  before  him  with  their  faces  to  the  earth.  .  .  . 
And  Joseph  knew  his  brethren,  but  they  knew  not  him. 
.  .  .  And  Joseph  remembered  the  dreams  which  he 
dreamed  of  them"  (Gen.  42:  2,  3,  6,  8,  9). 

Joseph  in  order  to  try  his  brethren,  to  learn  what 
manner  of  men  they  were,  treated  them  as  enemies, 


212  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

as  spies.  "And  they  said,  Thy  servants  are  twelve 
brethren,  the  sons  of  one  man  in  the  land  of  Canaan; 
and,  behold,  the  youngest  is  this  day  with  our  father, 
and  one  is  not"  (Gen.  42: 13).  And  Joseph  to  further 
prove  them  demanded  that  they  bring  their  youngest 
brother  to  him.  "But  bring  your  younger  brother 
unto  me;  so  shall  your  words  be  verified,  and  ye  shall 
not  die.  And  they  did  so."  It  is  written  that  Joseph 
put  his  brethren  into  prison;  but  this  is  manifestly 
allegoric;  it  is  descriptive  of  the  condition  of  his 
brethren.  All  men  are  in  prison,  in  bondage,  as  long 
as  they  are  obsessed  by  the  things  of  the  world.  "Why 
do  you  turn  again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  things  of 
the  world,  do  you  desire  again  to  be  in  bondage?" 
(Gal.  4:9).  Jesus  tells  how  he  shall  escape  out  of 
bondage  on  the  "third  day."  "Behold,  I  cast  out 
devils,  and  I  do  cures  to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  the 
third  day  I  shall  be  perfected"  (Luke  13:32).  The 
mission  of  Joseph,  like  every  true  master,  is  to  lead 
mankind  out  of  bondage.  None,  it  would  seem, 
escape  bondage  before  the  "third  day"  (Hosea  6:2). 

"And  Joseph  said  unto  them  the  third  day,  This  do, 
and  live ;  for  I  fear  God :  If  ye  be  true  men,  let  one  of 
your  brethren  be  bound  in  the  house  of  your  prison" 
(Gen.  42: 1 8,  19).  Joseph  is  a  master  in  Israel;  he  has 
attained  to  the  "third  day";  he  imposes  hard  condi- 
tions on  his  brethren;  he  gives  them  to  understand 
that  they  must  keep  their  word;  that  truth  is  a  condi- 
tion of  salvation.  "This  do,  and  live;  for  I  fear  God." 
"Let  one  be  bound  in  the  house  of  your  prison."  Let 
one  remain  in  prison,  and  represent  your  condition  in 
life.  Let  one  be  left  as  a  hostage. 

Joseph,  the  master,  imposes  hard  conditions  on  his 
brethren;  but  these  conditions  were  necessary  to  their 


The  Story  of  Joseph  213 

salvation;  they  were  necessary  to  awaken  them  out  of 
a  state  of  death.  The  first  step  in  human  salvation 
is  to  bring  man  to  a  realization  of  his  fallen  and  degener- 
ate condition.  Joseph  reveals  his  brethren  to  them- 
selves ;  he  brings  them  to  a  realization  of  their  own  fallen 
and  wretched  state  of  mind  and  heart;  and  in  order  to 
do  this,  he  imposes  conditions  which  fill  their  souls 
with  unspeakable  anguish.  "Now  no  chastening  for 
the  present  seemeth  to  be  joyous,  but  grievous:  never- 
theless afterward  it  yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruit  of 
righteousness  unto  them  which  are  exercised  thereby" 
(Heb.  12:  11);  "In  their  affliction  they  will  seek  me 
early"  (Hosea  5: 15;  Jonah  2:2;  Ps.  119:67;  Jer.  31: 
1 8).  Joseph  brings  his  brethren  face  to  face  with 
themselves;  he  makes  them  see  their  plight  as  they 
never  saw  it  before.  A  realization  of  one's  own  condi- 
tion precedes  a  knowledge  of  God.  "O  My  God,  who 
art  always  the  same,  let  me  know  myself,  and  I  shall 
know  thee, "  said  St.  Augustine. 

"And  they  said  one  to  another,  We  are  very  guilty 
concerning  our  brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  anguish  of 
his  soul,  when  he  besought  us,  and  we  would  not  hear; 
therefore  is  this  distress  upon  us.  And  Reuben  ans- 
wered them  saying,  Spake  I  not  unto  you,  saying,  Do 
not  sin  against  the  child;  and  ye  would  not  hear? 
Therefore,  also  his  blood  is  required.  And  they  knew 
not  that  Joseph  understood  them;  for  he  spake  unto 
them  by  an  interpreter"  (Gen.  42:  21-23). 

Blood  for  blood,  and  blow  for  blow: 
Thou  shalt  reap  as  thou  didst  sow. 

AESCHYLUS. 

"Be  not  deceived;  God  is  not  mocked:  for  whatsoever 
a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap"  (Gal.  6:  7). 


214  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

"And  Joseph  turned  himself  about  from  them,  and 
wept ;  and  returned  to  them  again,  and  communed  with 
them,  and  took  from  them  Simeon,  and  bound  him 
before  their  eyes"  (Gen.  42:24).  "He  communed 
with  them";  he  shared  their  grief  and  trouble.  Jesus 
wept  at  the  tomb  of  Lazarus;  "Then  said  the  Jews, 
Behold,  how  he  loved  him"  (John  11:35,  36)-  The 
master,  whether  he  be  in  Egypt  or  in  Bethany,  com- 
munes and  weeps  with  the  fallen  and  the  wretched;  he 
sympathizes  with  them  because  he  loves  them  and 
desires  to  help  them.  "O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  which 
killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest  them  that  are  sent 
unto  thee;  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy 
children  together,  as  a  hen  doth  gather  her  brood  under 
her  wings,  and  ye  would  not"  (Luke  13:  34). 

"And  Joseph  took  Simeon  from  them,  and  bound 
him  before  their  eyes"  (Gen.  42:24).  The  name 
Simeon  means  he  who  hears  and  obeys.  And  Reuben 
said  to  his  brethren,  "Spake  I  not  unto  you,  saying, 
Do  not  sin  against  the  child;  and  ye  would  not  hear." 
Men  bring  upon  themselves  unspeakable  suffering  and 
anguish  because  they  will  not  hear  and  obey  the  voice 
of  conscience  and  of  reason.  Nations,  tribes,  and 
families  are  decimated  by  war,  by  pestilence,  and  by 
famine,  that  the  people  may  be  taught  to  hear  and 
obey  the  word  of  God.  "The  Lord  will  greatly  bless 
thee.  ...  If  thou  carefully  hearken  unto  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  thy  God"  (Deut.  15: 4,  5).  "If  ye  will  not 
hearken  to  me,  to  walk  in  My  Law,  which  I  have  set 
before  you  .  .  .  then  this  city  shall  be  like  Shiloh,  and 
this  city  shall  be  desolate  without  an  inhabitant" 
(Jer.  26 : 4-9) .  Joseph  does  what  he  can  to  teach  his 
brethren  to  hear  and  obey  conscience  and  reason,  the 
highest  within  their  own  souls.  Simeon  is  bound  be- 


The  Story  of  Joseph  215 

fore  their  eyes;  and  thus  the  brethren  of  Joseph  have 
an  ocular  demonstration  of  the  bondage,  of  the  low 
sensuous  condition  in  which  they  are. 

And  nine  of  Joseph's  brethren  return  to  the  land  of 
Canaan  with  their  sacks  of  corn;  and  thus  Joseph  has 
provided  his  brethren  with  food ;  he  has  provided  them 
with  food  that  perishes  (i  Cor.  6: 13);  and  with  food 
that  does  not  perish,  but  gives  added  life.  "This  do, 
and  live;  for  I  fear  God."  Joseph  asks  no  outward 
thing  from  them;  but  he  desires  above  all  that  they 
hear  and  obey  conscience  and  reason ;  and  that  they  be 
good  men,  and  live  in  the  fear  of  God.  "And  it  came 
to  pass  as  they  emptied  their  sacks,  that,  behold,  every 
man's  bundle  of  money  was  in  his  sack."  When  Jacob 
is  told  that  Simeon  is  a  hostage  in  Egypt ;  and  that  the 
Ruler  "over  all  the  land  of  Egypt"  demands  that  his 
youngest  son  shall  be  sent  to  him,  he  bemoans  his 
fate.  "And  Jacob  their  father  said  unto  them,  Ye 
have  bereaved  me  of  my  children:  Joseph  is  not,  and 
Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will  take  Benjamin  away:  all 
these  things  are  against  me"  (Gen.  42:  36). 

Reuben,  who  represents  the  "beginning  of  Israel's 
strength,  and  the  excellency  of  dignity  and  power" 
(Gen.  49 :  3)  is  inclined  to  obey  the  voice  of  conscience 
and  reason;  Simeon,  as  his  name  implies,  is  disposed 
to  hear,  learn,  and  obey;  and  Levi  stands  for  association, 
restraint,  and  temperance.  Perhaps,  it  was  Robert 
Boyle  who  said:  "Self-denial  is  a  kind  of  holy  associa- 
tion with  God."  Judah,  whose  name  means  confession, 
and  praise  of  God,  is  a  man  of  dauntless  courage;  he 
is  a  just  man;  "he  is  a  lion's  whelp."  While  Joseph 
has  attained  to  greatness  in  Egypt,  Judah  has  made 
progress  and  has  attained  to  "the  excellency  of  dignity 
and  the  excellency  of  power."  "The  sceptre  shall  not 


216  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between  his 
feet,  until  Shiloh  [rest  and  peace]  come;  and  unto  him 
shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be"  (Gen.  49:  9,  10). 
The  sceptre  here  referred  to  is  reason;  for  it  is  the 
sceptre  that  constitutes  man  a  lawgiver;  man  must  be 
faithful  to  conscience  and  reason  if  he  would  find 
Shiloh,  rest  and  peace.  "Unto  him  shall  the  gathering 
of  the  people  be."  It  will  be  observed  that  the  sons  of 
Leah,  and  Joseph,  the  son  of  Rachel,  are  the  real  actors 
in  this  marvelous  drama  of  life;  and  that  the  sons  of 
the  bondmaids  do  not  manifest  any  moral  activity. 
Reuben  and  Judah  insist  that  their  brother  Benjamin 
shall  go  with  them  on  their  second  journey  down  to 
Egypt.  "And  Judah  spake  unto  his  father,  saying, 
The  man  did  solemnly  protest  unto  us,  saying,  Ye  shall 
not  see  my  face,  except  your  brother  be  with  you" 
(Gen.  43 13). 

"And  Reuben  spake  unto  his  father,  saying,  Slay  my 
two  sons,  if  I  bring  him  not  to  thee:  deliver  him  into 
my  hands,  and  I  will  bring  him  unto  thee  again"  (Gen. 
42:37).  But  the  lion-hearted  Judah  offers  to  assume 
all  responsibility  for  the  safe  return  of  his  youngest 
brother.  "And  Judah  said  unto  Israel,  his  father, 
Send  the  lad  with  me,  and  we  will  arise  and  go;  that  we 
may  live,  and  not  die,  both  we,  and  thou,  and  also  our 
little  ones.  I  will  be  surety  for  him;  of  my  own  hand 
shalt  thou  require  him:  if  I  bring  him  not  unto  thee, 
then  let  me  bear  the  blame  forever"  (Gen.  43:  8,  9).  The 
mighty  ruler  and  master  of  Egypt  imposed  hard  condi- 
tions. He  tried  the  hearts  of  Israel  and  his  sons,  but 
let  no  man  be  deceived;  for  this  is  the  way  of  salvation. 
"  If  any  man  will  follow  in  my  footsteps,  let  him  deny 
himself,  and  take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me"  (Matt. 
16:24).  The  Law  of  Heaven,  whereby  man  becomes 


The  Story  of  Joseph  217 

a  man,  imposes  hard  conditions.  "Progress  is  the 
Law  of  Life;  man  is  not  man  as  yet,"  said  Robert 
Browning.  The  world  contains  many  people  who 
make  a  pretense  at  being  something;  but  who  has  seen 
a  Hebrew  prophet,  or  a  Greek  philosopher  who  would 
suffer  death  rather  than  deviate  from  the  strait  and 
narrow  way.  The  disposition  of  men  generally  to 
temporize  with  truth  and  justice  is  well  illustrated  in 
a  remark  made  by  John  Ruskin  in  the  first  of  a  series 
of  three  lectures  entitled:  The  Crown  of  Wild  Olive. 

People  are  perpetually  squabbling  about  what  will  be  best 
to  do,  or  easiest  to  do,  or  advisable  to  do,  or  profitable  to  do, 
but  they  never  so  far  as  I  hear  them  talk,  ever  ask  what  is 
just  to  do.  And  it  is  the  law  of  heaven  that  you  shall  not 
be  able  to  judge  what  is  wise  or  easy,  unless  you  are  first 
resolved  to  judge  what  is  just,  and  to  do  it.  That  is  the  one 
thing  constantly  reiterated  by  our  Master — the  order  of  all 
others  that  is  given  oftenest — "Do  justice  and  judgment." 
That's  your  Bible  order;  that's  the  "Service  of  God,"  not 
praying  nor  psalm-singing.  You  are  told,  indeed,  to  sing 
when  you  are  merry,  and  to  pray  when  you  need  anything; 
and  by  the  perversion  of  the  evil  spirit,  we  get  to  think 
that  praying  and  psalm-singing  are  "service." 

Mary  G.  Chandler  in  her  interesting  little  book, 
The  Elements  of  Character,  says:  "When  the  habit  of 
speaking  the  truth  is  neglected,  the  capacity  of  per- 
ceiving it  is  gradually  lost."  And  she  might  have 
added:  When  truth  is  faithfully  and  habitually  ad- 
hered to,  the  capacity  of  perceiving  it  is  gradually 
enlarged.  These  propositions,  these  scriptural  doctrines, 
are  as  certainly  true  as  any  axioms  in  mathematics. 
"Do  justice  and  judgment,"  and  the  sceptre  shall  not 
depart  from  you,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between  your 


218  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

feet,  and  like  Judah,  you  shall  come  to  Shiloh,  and 
unto  you  shall  come  the  gathering  of  the  people. 
Virtue  leads  to  enlargement  without  limit.  "Of  the 
increase  of  his  government  and  peace  there  shall  be  no 
end"  (Isa.  9:7).  "He  that  doeth  the  truth  cometh 
to  the  Light"  (John  3:21).  When  will  men  know 
enough  to  know  that  they  must  face  the  grave  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  life,  like  the  lion-hearted  Judah, 
if  they  would  come  to  Shiloh,  and  would  aid  others 
to  come?  On  the  side  of  virtue  is  life,  and  liberty, 
and  enlargement  forever;  on  the  side  of  evil  is  limita- 
tion, atrophy,  and  death.  "I  call  heaven  and  earth  to 
record  this  day  against  you,  that  I  have  set  before  you 
life  and  death,  blessing  and  cursing:  therefore  choose 
life,  that  both  thou  and  thy  seed  may  live"  (Deut.  30: 
1914:  26:31:28). 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  they  had  eaten  up  the 
corn  which  they  had  brought  out  of  Egypt,  that  their 
father  said  unto  them,  Go  again,  buy  us  a  little  food.  .  .  . 
Take  also  your  brother,  and  arise,  go  again  unto  the  man : 
And  God  Almighty  give  you  mercy  before  the  man, 
that  he  may  send  away  your  other  brother,  and  Benja- 
min. If  I  be  bereaved  of  my  children,  I  am  bereaved" 
(Gen.  43:  2,  13,  14).  Joseph  now  tries  the  souls  of  his 
brethren  as  they  had  never  been  tried  before.  When 
their  sacks  were  filled  with  food,  and  when  they  were 
gone  out  of  the  city,  and  were  not  yet  far  off,  they 
were  overtaken,  and  Joseph's  silver  cup  was  found  in 
the  sack's  mouth  of  the  youngest,  in  Benjamin's  sack. 
"Then  they  rent  their  clothes,  and  laded  every  man  his 
ass,  and  returned  to  the  city.  And  Judah  and  his 
brethren  came  to  Joseph's  house ;  f6r  he  was  yet  there : 
and  they  fell  before  him  on  the  ground.  And  Joseph 
said  unto  them,  What  deed  is  this  that  ye  have  done? 


The  Story  of  Joseph  219 

wot  ye  not  that  such  a  man  as  I  can  certainly  divine?" 
(Gen.  44: 13-15). 

Joseph  has  felled  his  brethren  to  the  earth  by  the 
final  blow  that  he  has  dealt  them.  Nothing  sobers  a 
man,  nothing  brings  him  face  to  face  with  himself  like 
an  appalling  calamity.  The  wise  do  not  believe  that 
anything  is  fortuitous  or  accidental;  in  a  word,  they 
believe  that  whatever  happens  is  the  result  of  some 
cause,  or  causes.  Judah  and  his  brethren  believe  that 
their  wretched  condition  is  the  result  of  their  own 
iniquity.  "And  Judah  said,  What  shall  we  say  unto 
my  lord?  what  shall  we  speak?  how  shall  we  clear 
ourselves?  God  hath  found  out  the  iniquity  of  thy 
servants:  behold,  we  are  my  lord's  servants,  both  we, 
and  he  also  with  whom  the  cup  is  found.  And  Joseph 
said,  God  forbid  that  I  should  do  so:  but  the  man  in 
whose  hand  the  cup  is  found,  he  shall  be  my  servant 
and  as  for  you,  get  ye  up  in  peace  unto  your  father" 
(Gen.  44:  1 6,  17).  The  Hebrew  Scriptures  teach 
unqualifiedly  that  every  infraction  of  Heaven's  Law 
brings  to  the  offender  an  adequate  and  proper  punish- 
ment. "And  it  is  easier  for  heaven  and  earth  to  pass, 
than  one  tittle  of  the  Law  to  fail ' '  (Luke  16:17).  Noth- 
ing is  more  certain,  than  that  there  is  a  principle,  a 
Law,  operating  in  the  universe  that  suffers  no  wrong  to 
go  unpunished.  "Beware  of  him,  and  obey  his  voice, 
provoke  him  not;  for  he  will  not  pardon  your  trans- 
gressions: for  my  name  is  in  him"  (Ex.  23:  21). 

But  the  lion-hearted  Judah  is  no  weakling;  he  is  a 
manly  man;  he  is  equal  to  the  occasion.  "Then 
Judah  came  near  unto  Joseph,  and  said,  Oh  my  lord, 
let  thy  servant,  I  pray  thee,  speak  a  word  in  my  lord's 
ears,  and  let  not  thine  anger  burn  against  thy  servant: 
for  thou  art  even  as  Pharaoh"  (Gen.  44: 1 8).  The 


220  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

intrepid  Judah  makes  no  attempt  to  evade  responsi- 
bility; he  meets  it  face  to  face.  He  tells  Joseph  that 
Benjamin  is  the  child  of  his  father's  old  age;  and  that 
"his  father's  life  is  bound  up  in  the  lad's  life";  and  he 
repeats  to  Joseph  what  his  father  said  about  having 
two  sons  by  his  wife,  and  that  one  is  lost,  and  if  mis- 
chief befall  the  other  that  it  will  bring  down  his  gray 
hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave;  and  he  assures  Joseph 
that  he  is  surety  for  the  lad.  "For  thy  servant  became 
surety  for  the  lad  unto  my  father,  saying,  If  I  bring 
him  not  unto  thee,  then  I  shall  bear  the  blame  to  my 
father  forever.  Now  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  let  thy 
servant  abide  instead  of  the  lad,  a  bondman  to  my 
lord ;  and  let  the  lad  go  up  with  his  brethren.  For  how 
shall  I  go  up  to  my  father,  and  the  lad  be  not  with  me? 
lest  peradventure  I  see  the  evil  that  shall  come  on  my 
father"  (Gen.  44: 32-34). 

"Then  Joseph  could  not  refrain  himself  before  all 
them  that  stood  by  him;  and  he  cried,  Cause  every 
man  to  go  out  from  me.  And  there  stood  no  man  with 
him,  while  Joseph  made  himself  known  to  his  brethren. 
.  .  .  And  Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  Come  near  to 
me,  I  pray  you.  And  they  came  near.  And  he  said, 
I  am  Joseph,  your  brother,  whom  ye  sold  into  Egypt. 
Now,  therefore  be  not  grieved,  nor  angry  with  your- 
selves, that  ye  sold  me  hither:  for  God  did  send  me 
before  you  to  preserve  life"  (Gen.  45: 1,  4,  5).  Joseph 
was  human  like  all  the  great;  and  the  story  of  his 
aged  father's  sorrow  and  grief  touched  him  profoundly. 
The  great  are  touched  with  compassion  because  of 
man's  sorrow  and  infirmity;  and  though  tempted  as 
we  are,  they  rise  superior  to  sin  (Heb.  4: 15). 

Joseph  finds  no  fault  with  his  brethren  because  they 
sold  him  to  the  Midianite  merchants  on  their  way  down 


The  Story  of  Joseph  221 

to  Egypt.  "For  God  did  send  me  before  you  to  pre- 
serve life."  This  is  the  work  of  the  Master.  "I  am 
come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they  might 
have  it  more  abundantly"  (John  10:  10).  This  recalls 
the  story  of  two  of  Jesus'  disciples  who  went  to  Em- 
maus,  and  how  they  bemoaned  the  fate  of  their  Master, 
"Jesus  of  Nazareth  which  was  a  prophet  mighty  in 
deed  and  word  before  God  and  all  the  people, "  and  how 
Jesus  reprimanded  them.  "Then  he  said  unto  them, 
O  fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to  believe  all  that  the  prophets 
have  spoken :  Ought  not  Christ  to  have  suffered  these 
things,  and  to  enter  into  his  glory?  And  beginning  at 
Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he  expounded  unto  them 
in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself" 
(Luke  24:25-27).  The  Scriptures  were  written  con- 
cerning the  soul  of  Jesus,  and  every  human  soul;  they 
were  written  concerning  your  soul  and  mine;  and 
man  must  learn  to  bear  with  patience  and  fortitude 
the  unavoidable  ills  of  life,  if  he  would  make  progress. 
"For  I  learned,  in  whatsoever  state  I  am,  therewith 
to  be  content"  (Phil.  4:11).  Man  is  made  perfect 
by  suffering  (Heb.  5:8;  Gen.  49:23;  Ps.  105:17-20). 
"He  that  hath  suffered  in  the  flesh  [and  is  dead  to  the 
things  of  the  sensuous  and  carnal  world]  hath  ceased 
from  sin"  (i  Peter  4:1).  Man  must  suffer  and  die 
to  the  carnal  world  before  he  is  born  into  the  Kingdom 
of  God. 

"And  Pharaoh  called  Joseph's  name  Zaphnath-paa- 
neah  [a  Savior,  the  resurrection  and  the  life] ;  and  gave 
him  to  wife  Asenath  the  daughter  of  Potipherah  priest 
of  On.  And  Joseph  went  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt. 
And  Joseph  was  thirty  years  old  when  he  stood  before 
Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt"  (Gen.  41:45,  46).  Joseph 
was  a  great  teacher  of  righteousness;  and  was  both  a 


222  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

prophet  and  a  priest.  In  olden  times  the  priests  were 
the  educated;  they  were  the  teachers  of  mankind; 
they  were  the  keepers  of  knowledge.  "The  priests' 
lips  should  keep  knowledge,  and  the  people  should  ask 
the  Law  at  his  mouth,  because  he  is  the  messenger  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts"  (Mai.  2:7;  Lev.  10:11;  Deut.  17:9; 
Jer.  18: 18;  Hag.  2:  n). 

And  Joseph  said  to  his  brethren:  "So  it  was  not 
you  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God:  and  He  hath  made 
me  a  father  to  Pharaoh,  and  lord  of  all  his  house,  and  a 
ruler  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt"  (Gen.  45:8). 
Joseph  is  the  teacher  of  Pharaoh  and  his  people.  "The 
people  cried  unto  Pharaoh  for  bread:  and  Pharaoh 
said  unto  all  the  Egyptians,  Go  unto  Joseph;  what  he 
saith  unto  you,  do"  (Gen.  41:55).  Joseph,  like 
Jesus,  was  a  Master  at  the  age  of  thirty.  "All  they 
that  enter  into  the  host,  to  do  the  work  in  the  tabernacle 
of  the  congregation,  were  from  thirty  years  old  and 
upward  even  to  fifty  years  old"  (Num.  4:3;  i  Chron. 
23 :  3)-  Jesus,  it  would  seem,  entered  upon  his  ministry 
when  "about  thirty  years  of  age"  (Luke  3:23),  in 
keeping  with  the  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures. 

The  patriarchs  were  the  fathers  of  their  people,  and 
of  nations;  they  were  such  because  of  the  lives  they 
lived,  and  the  knowledge  they  possessed.  Every  true 
prophet  was  a  priest;  for  the  reason  that  he  was  a 
teacher  of  righteousness;  but  for  a  priest  to  be  a  prophet 
was  the  exception,  and  not  the  rule.  The  prophets, 
therefore,  were  the  teachers  of  the  priests;  the  priests 
constituted  a  guild  that  transmitted  knowledge  from 
generation  to  generation.  Such  a  guild  was  necessary 
in  ages  when  the  preservation  of  knowledge  in  written 
form  was  most  difficult.  The  priests  often,  at  the 


The  Story  of  Joseph  223 

instance  of  the  sensuous  and  luxurious  of  Israel  and 
because  of  their  own  weakness,  compromised  the  high 
ideals  of  Israel;  and  this  brought  on  an  ever-recurring 
conflict  between  the  prophets  and  the  priests. 

The  prophets,  the  teachers  of  the  priests,  were 
the  most  austere  of  all  teachers;  since  they  made  no 
compromise  with  evil;  they  made  none  because  God 
makes  none.  The  priests  and  people  of  Israel  who 
desired  to  live  the  soft  luxurious  life  of  the  world  stood 
in  dread  of  the  prophets.  "And  they  feared  Joshua, 
as  they  feared  Moses,  all  the  days  of  his  life"  (Josh. 
4:  14).  The  prophets  were  the  guardians  of  Israel. 
"Son  of  man,  I  have  made  thee  a  watchman  unto  the 
house  of  Israel:  therefore  hear  the  word  at  my  mouth, 
and  give  them  warning  from  me "  (Ezek.  3 :  17).  "Thou 
hast  forgotten  the  Law  of  thy  God,"  said  Hosea  to  the 
priests  (Hosea  4:6;  Mai.  2:8).  "For  the  Law  shall 
not  perish  from  the  priests  [say  the  priests  when  under 
the  censure  of  Jeremiah] .  .  .  Come  let  us  smite  Jeremiah 
with  the  tongue,  and  let  us  not  give  heed  to  any  of  his 
words"  (Jer.  18:  18).  "Did  not  Moses  give  the  Law, 
and  yet  none  of  you  keepeth  the  Law?  Why  go  ye 
about  to  kill  me?"  (John  7:  19). 

The  prophets  are  they  that  are  related  to  the  King- 
dom of  God,  and  are  organs  of  His  Spirit,  and  that 
speak  in  His  name  (Neh.  9:30;  Zech.  7:12;  Micah 
3:8).  "Behold,  I  have  put  my  words  in  thy  mouth" 
(Jer.  1:9;  Isa.  51:  16).  "God  hath  spoken  by  the 
mouth  of  his  holy  prophets  since  the  world  began" 
(Luke  1 :  70).  Joseph  was  a  ruler  over  all  the  land  of 
Egypt  because  he  was  a  prophet  and  a  master.  "And 
Pharaoh  said  unto  his  servants,  Can  we  find  such  a  one 
as  this  is,  a  man  in  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  is?"  (Gen. 


224  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

After  the  coining  of  Moses,  the  Lawgiver,  all  the 
great  Hebrew  prophets  stood  for  the  Law  proclaimed 
by  him,  and  condemned  unqualifiedly  every  departure 
from  the  strict  observance  of  the  Law  either  by  the 
priests  or  the  people  of  Israel  (Neh.  1:7;  Isa.  8:20; 
Jer.  18: 18;  Ezek.  7:26;  Dan.  9:  n;  Amos  2:4;  Hosea 
8 :  i ;  Zeph.  3:4);  and  we  believe  it  is  fair  to  say,  that 
no  prophet  ever  condemned  the  teachers  of  Israel 
more  severely  for  failing  to  keep  the  Law,  than  did 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The  attitude  of  the  prophets 
toward  the  Law  is  shown  in  the  austere  lives  that  they 
lived,  in  their  unqualified  affirmance  of  the  Law,  and  in 
the  severe  and  uncompromising  war  they  waged  against 
any  and  every  departure  from  the  Law.  Jesus  affirmed 
that  his  mission  in  the  world  was  to  fulfil  the  Law. 
"Whosoever  therefore  shall  break  one  of  these  least 
commandments,  and  shall  teach  men  so,  he  shall  be 
called  the  least  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven"  (Matt. 
5:  17-19).  "Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the 
Law,  or  the  prophets:  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but 
to  fulfill";  this  we  would  interpret:  Think  not  that 
I  am  come  to  proclaim  a  different  doctrine,  from  that 
taught  in  the  Law,  and  by  the  prophets:  I  am  not 
come  to  destroy  the  teachings  of  the  Law  and  the 
prophets,  but  to  fulfill,  and  to  demonstrate  in  a  life 
lived  the  truth  that  they  taught. 

The  religion  that  is  founded  upon  human  nature,  the 
religion  that  teaches  the  orderly  unfoldment  of  the 
powers  of  the  soul  of  man,  came  to  the  people  of  Israel 
in  its  full-orbed  grandeur  with  the  giving  of  the  Law. 
Moses  dispensed  this  religion  to  the  congregation  of 
Israel;  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth  sought  a  greater  dispensa- 
tion, to  wit:  the  giving  of  this  religion  to  the  people  of 
the  world.  The  end  and  the  aim  of  the  Law,  the 


The  Story  of  Joseph  225 

religion  of  Israel,  is  to  lead  man  to  live  in  conformity 
with  Heaven's  harmony,  order,  and  truth ;  and  this  high 
and  holy  Law  is  fulfilled  when  man  lives  in  obedience 
to  the  Law  of  his  own  nature.  It  stands  to  reason  that 
the  orderly  development  of  the  soul  of  man  is  governed 
by  a  principle,  by  a  Law,  as  high  as  Heaven  itself; 
and  that  religion  is  founded  in  this  Law;  and  this  at 
once  suggests  that  religion  is  taught  and  demonstrated 
in  a  life  lived  in  obedience  to  this  holy  Law. 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  the  patriarchs,  whose 
mode  of  life  and  development  is  described  in  the  Book 
of  Genesis  and  who  preceded  the  coming  of  Moses,  were 
led  by  an  unseen  hand  to  do  those  things  that  were  best 
for  them,  and  for  mankind;  and  that  they  were  willing 
and  desirous  of  being  so  led.  "And  Joseph  said  unto 
his  brethren,  .  .  .  Now  therefore,  be  not  grieved,  nor 
angry  with  yourselves,  that  ye  sent  me  hither:  for  God 
did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  life.  ...  So  now  it 
was  not  you  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God"  (Gen. 
45 :  5»  8).  Though  none  of  the  patriarchs  who  preceded 
Moses,  it  would  seem,  organized  a  priesthood  to  keep 
and  teach  the  Law;  and  none  surrounded  himself  with 
disciples  whom  he  taught  and  sent  forth  as  sheep  among 
wolves;  yet  it  does  seem  that  these  ancient  men  did 
attain  to  a  high  degree  of  development;  and  that  their 
lives  did  in  truth  represent  a  fulfillment  of  the  Law 
of  Moses.  "Your  father  Abraham  saw  my  day,  and 
rejoiced"  (John  8:56). 

This  scriptural  idea,  that  there  is  an  all-wise  Provi- 
dence that  regulates  and  superintends  all  the  events  of 
the  universe  is  beautifully  expressed  in  words  accredited 
to  the  Sage  of  Athens,  in  Xenophon's  Memorable 
Thoughts  of  Socrates.  Socrates  thus  addresses  his 
friend  Aristodemus: 

15 


226  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Do  you  not  know  that  the  most  ancient  and  wise  republics 
and  people  have  been  the  most  pious,  and  that  man,  at  the 
age  when  his  judgment  is  ripest,  has  then  the  greatest  bent 
to  the  worship  of  the  Deity? 

My  dear  Aristodemus,  consider  that  your  mind  governs 
your  body  according  to  its  pleasure:  in  like  manner  we 
ought  to  believe  that  there  is  a  mind  diffused  throughout  the 
whole  universe  that  disposeth  of  all  things  according  to  its 
counsels.  You  must  not  imagine  that  your  weak  sight  can 
reach  to  objects  that  are  several  leagues  distant,  and  that 
the  eye  of  God  cannot,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  see  all 
things.  You  must  not  imagine  that  your  mind  can  reflect 
on  the  affairs  of  Athens,  of  Egypt,  and  of  Sicily,  and  that 
the  providence  of  God  cannot,  at  one  and  the  same  moment, 
consider  all  things.  As,  therefore,  you  may  make  trial  of  the 
gratitude  of  a  man  by  doing  him  a  kindness,  and  as  you  may 
discover  his  prudence  by  consulting  him  in  difficult  affairs,  so 
if  you  would  be  convinced  how  great  is  the  power  and  goodness 
of  God,  apply  yourself  sincerely  to  piety  and  his  worship; 
then,  my  dear  Aristodemus,  you  shall  soon  be  persuaded 
that  the  Deity  sees  all,  hears  all,  is  present  everywhere, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  regulates  and  superintends  all  the 
events  of  the  universe. 

Of  course,  the  things  said  and  done  of  Joseph  do 
not  end  with  the  forty-fifth  chapter  of  Genesis,  but 
enough  has  been  said  to  reveal  the  real  character  of  this 
mighty  man  of  God.  In  the  thirty-seventh  chapter 
of  Genesis,  it  is  written  that  "Joseph  brought  to  his 
father  the  evil  report"  of  the  sons  of  the  bondmaids. 
It  would  seem  they  counseled  the  death  of  Joseph ;  and 
thus  their  character,  or  rather  their  absence  of  character 
is  revealed.  The  sons  of  the  bondmaids  represent  man 
low  in  the  scale  of  development,  and  in  Reuben,  the 
first-born  of  Leah,  we  behold  the  dawn  of  the  higher 
life,  and  then  higher  in  the  scale  of  ascent,  we  behold  the 


The  Story  of  Joseph  227 

lion-hearted  Judah  standing  face  to  face  with  Joseph, 
the  Master  of  all  Egypt.  The  glory  of  Israel  is  re- 
presented in  Joseph,  surnamed  the  Savior  qf  the  world 
(the  resurrection  and  the  life)  by  the  king  of  Egypt. 
The  story  of  Jacob,  his  wives,  and  his  sons  is  instructive 
and  edifying;  for  it  presents  a  unique  and  marvelous 
study  in  psychology;  and  this  story  was  intended  to 
teach,  and  does  teach,  the  high  and  holy  possibilities 
of  man.  The  seven  sons  of  Leah  and  Rachel  represent 
the  moral  development  of  man;  they  represent  the 
ascending  degrees  of  human  greatness  from  its  horizon 
to  its  zenith.  "Reuben,  thou  art  my  first-born, 
and  the  beginning  of  my  strength,  the  excellency  of 
dignity,  and  the  excellency  of  power"  (Gen.  49:  3). 

The  next  chapter  deals  with  the  life,  the  character, 
and  the  teachings  of  Moses;  it  deals  with  the  problem 
of  salvation  as  taught  in  the  book  of  Exodus,  the  name 
of  which  means  the  "way  out."  Perhaps  no  book  was 
ever  written  which  so  specifically  points  the  way  of 
salvation,  "the  way  out"  of  the  carnal  state  of  con- 
sciousness; the  way  whereby  man  is  resurrected  out 
of  a  state  of  carnality  and  death  into  a  state  of  spiritual- 
ity and  life.  "Psychology,"  said  the  late  Prof.  William 
James,  "is  the  description  and  explanation  of  the 
states  of  consciousness  as  such." 

"Now  there  arose  up  a  new  king  over  Egypt,  which 
knew  not  Joseph"  (Ex.  1:8).  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  character  of  the  people  of  Egypt  in  the  time 
of  Joseph,  it  is  fair  to  say,  both  from  the  viewpoint  of 
the  Scriptures  and  of  ancient  history,  that  the  Egyptians 
in  the  time  of  Moses  were  a  luxurious,  sensuous,  and 
warlike  people;  and  that  Moses  and  Plato  and  other 
teachers  of  religion  and  philosophy,  were  justified  in 
likening  the  primitive,  the  sensuous,  state  of  man  to 


228  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  haughty,  conceited,  imperious,  and  money-loving 
Egyptians.  Ancient  literature  often  describes  states  of 
mentality,  states  of  human  development,  by  referring 
to  the  predilections  of  this  or  that  nation  of  people. 
The  moral  status  of  a  people,  or  the  absence  of  such  a 
status,  is  determined  by  the  things  toward  which  their 
affections  are  directed.  "Their  abominations  were 
according  as  they  loved"  (Hosea  9: 10). 

Plato  in  his  dialogue,  The  Republic,  says  that  a 
nation  of  people,  or  State,  represents  the  predilections, 
the  principles,  and  habits  of  the  people  who  compose 
such  nation,  or  State. 

Can  I  be  wrong,  I  said,  in  acknowledging  that  in  the 
individual  there  are  the  same  principles  and  habits  which 
there  are  in  the  State?  for  if  they  did  not  pass  from  one  to 
the  other,  whence  did  they  come?  Take  the  quality  of 
passion  or  spirit;  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  imagine  that 
this  quality,  which  is  characteristic  of  the  Thracians,  Scythi- 
ans, and  in  general  of  the  northern  nations,  when  found 
in  States,  does  not  originate  in  the  individuals  that  compose 
them;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  love  of  knowledge, 
which  is  a  special  characteristic  of  our  part  of  the  world, 
or  the  love  of  money,  which  may,  with  equal  truth,  be 
attributed  to  the  Phoenicians  and  Egyptians. 

The  book  of  Exodus,  the  book  in  which  Moses  is  the 
great  central  figure,  represents  primitive,  sensuous, 
godless  man  as  an  Egyptian;  and  it  points  the  "way 
out"  of  this  state  of  carnality  and  death,  perhaps,  as 
no  other  book  has  ever  described  it.  Therefore,  it  is 
evident  that  Egypt,  the  desert  or  the  wilderness,  and 
the  promised  land,  represent  ascending  states  of 
consciousness,  ascending  degrees  of  human  development. 


CHAPTER  VII 

MOSES 

"Remember  ye  the  law  of  Moses  my  servant,  which  I  commanded 
unto  him  in  Horeb  for  all  Israel,  with  the  statutes  and  judgments" 
(Mai.  4:  4)- 

MOSES  is  the  name  of  him  who  was  drawn  out  of 
the  water.  The  dirty  water  of  the  Nile,  out  of  which 
Moses  was  taken,  is  a  symbol  of  carnal  mind.  Moses, 
we  are  told,  was  forty  years  in  Egypt,  forty  years  in 
the  wilderness,  and  forty  years  the  spiritual  teacher  of 
his  people.  "By  faith  Moses,  when  he  was  come  to 
years,  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter; 
choosing  rather  to  suffer  afflictions  with  the  people  of 
God,  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season; 
esteeming  reproach  for  Christ's  sake  greater  riches 
than  the  treasures  of  Egypt"  (Heb.  II :  24-26). 

He  who  suffers  for  Christ's  sake  suffers  the  reproach 
of  the  world,  to  the  end  that  he  may  attain  to  purity 
of  mind  and  heart ;  he  suffers  that  his  soul  may  be  made 
upright.  He  who  is  drawn  out  of  the  water;  he  who  is 
resurrected  from  the  dead  must  of  necessity  suffer. 
The  psychological  change  whereby  the  human  soul  dies 
to  the  world  and  is  born  into  the  spiritual  life  is  always 
attended  with  great  suffering.  This  is  the  baptism 
with  fire.  "How  am  I  straitened,  says  Jesus,  till  it  be 
229 


230  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

accomplished"  (Luke  12:50).  "We  know  that  we 
have  passed  from  death  to  life"  (i  John  3:  14). 

"Moses  was  learned  in  the  wisdom  of  Egypt"  (Acts 
7 :  22).  Moses,  it  would  seem,  had  every  opportunity  to 
be  learned  in  the  wisdom  of  Egypt;  he  was  the  adopted 
son  of  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Egypt.  The  science 
of  symbolism  had  no  doubt  reached  its  zenith  in  the 
days  of  Moses;  the  old  temples  and  pyramids  erected 
centuries  before  his  time  bear  unmistakable  evidence 
of  this.  But  the  most  indubitable  proof  of  his  masterful 
knowledge  of  symbols  is  to  be  found  in  that  portion  of 
the  Old  Testament  called  the  Pentateuch.  We  con- 
fidently believe  that  the  day  is  near  at  hand  when  the 
Science  of  Psyche,  or  Psychology,  will  take  precedence 
of  every  other  science ;  and  that  the  Pentateuch  will  then 
be  regarded  as  the  most  profound  and  valuable  contri- 
bution to  knowledge  ever  given  to  the  people  of  the 
world. 

In  the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  Egypt  is  the  land 
of  carnality;  it  corresponds  with  the  lower  principles 
of  the  soul  of  unregenerate  man ;  it  is  the  home  of  the 
primitive  man,  the  irrational  man;  it  is  the  land  of 
strife,  rebellion,  and  death;  in  the  days  of  Moses  the 
Egyptians  were  given  to  animal  worship.  This  we 
learn  both  from  the  Scriptures  and  from  history. 
"The  Egyptians,"  says  Tacitus,  "venerate  various 
animals.  .  .  .  The  Jews  acknowledge,  and  that  with  the 
mind  only,  a  single  Deity.  .  .  .  Theirs  is  the  Supreme 
Eternal  God,  Unchangeable,  Immortal.  They  there- 
fore suffer  no  statues  in  their  cities,  and  still  less  in  their 
temples."  Tacitus  tells  us  in  this  connection  that  the 
Jews  have  never  permitted  images  of  God  in  human 
form.  "They  have  never  shown  this  mark  of  flattery 
to  their  kings.  They  have  never  done  this  honor  to 


Moses  231 

the  Csesars."  Strabo,  when  speaking  of  the  greatness 
of  Moses,  said:  He  taught  that  "God  was  not  to  be 
worshiped  by  any  image,  and  that  He  would  reveal 
Himself  only  to  the  pure  and  virtuous."  If  Egypt 
represents  the  lower  principle  of  the  human  soul,  then 
Media,  the  wilderness  region  intervening  between  Egypt 
and  the  promised  land,  represents  the  intermediate  prin- 
ciple of  the  soul. 

The  Scriptures  tell  us  that  God  leads  all  his  sons 
out  of  Egypt;  He  leads  them  into  the  wilderness  to 
humble  them,  to  prove  them  (Deut.  8:  2,  3).  All  who 
repent  of  the  life  of  Egypt  are  led  into  the  wilderness  to 
be  educated  (Deut.  32: 10-12).  Egypt  is  the  land  of 
carnal  pleasures ;  the  wilderness  is  the  land  of  adversity, 
of  discipline,  and  of  privation  (Num.  20:5).  Man 
attains  to  the  higher  life  by  suffering;  he  is  destined 
to  undergo  a  fearful  and  wearisome  discipline  ere  he 
attains  to  the  promised  land.  For  centuries  men  have 
been  taught  that  a  mere  form  of  belief  does  the  work  of 
salvation.  Nothing  can  be  farther  from  the  truth. 
The  Scriptures  teach  that  man  must  be  drawn  out  of 
the  water  of  the  Nile,  that  he  must  abandon  the  carnal 
life;  and  that  he  must  sacrifice  every  worldly  considera- 
tion ;  and  must  undergo  a  great  discipline  and  chastening 
to  inherit  eternal  life.  They  who  find  the  Kingdom  of 
God  "are  the  poor  in  spirit."  The  poor  in  spirit  are 
they  who  have  abandoned  the  world,  who  are  depleted 
of  the  spirit  of  the  world.  "A  friend  of  the  world  is 
the  enemy  of  God"  (James  4:4;  I  John  2:15-17). 
He  who  is  in  love  with  the  world  is  more  animal  than 
human ;  he  who  ardently  loves  money,  fame,  and  power 
is  proud,  conceited,  and  selfish.  He  who  is  dead  to  the 
world  is  humble,  charitable,  and  just.  "For  he  that  is 
dead  [to  the  animal  world]  is  freed  from  sin  "  (Rom.  6:7). 


232  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

The  Scriptures  teach  in  their  every  individual 
experience  that  none  attain  to  greatness  except  by 
suffering.  All  the  great  have  graduated  in  the  school 
of  adversity.  "The  Lord  hath  chastened  me  sore: 
but  he  hath  not  given  me  over  unto  death"  (Ps.  118: 
1 8).  "Before  I  was  afflicted  I  went  astray;  but  now 
have  I  kept  thy  word"  (Ps.  119:  67).  "For  whom  the 
Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth"  (Heb.  12:6).  All  that 
have  attained  to  the  promised  land,  to  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  have  gone  by  the  way  of  the  wilderness.  Christ 
is  said  to  be  crucified  both  in  Egypt  and  in  Sodom 
(Rev.  II :  8).  All  that  live  the  carnal  life  crucify 
conscience  and  reason.  When  Lot  escaped  Sodom, 
and  "entered  into  Zoar,  the  sun  had  risen  upon  the 
earth"  (Gen.  19:22,  23).  As  long  as  man  persists  in 
living  the  carnal  life,  there  is  no  spiritual  help  for  him ; 
by  such  a  life  he  renders  himself  helpless.  "  Haste 
thee,  escape  thither:  for  I  cannot  do  any  thing  till  thou 
be  come  thither.  Therefore  the  name  of  the  city  was 
called  Zoar"  [the  beginning]  (Gen.  19:22).  Every 
man  who  would  realize  the  spiritual  life  must  abandon 
Sodom. 

The  Scriptures  tell  us  again  and  again  that  the 
carnally  minded  are  dead  and  in  their  graves.  "And 
ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord,  when  I  have  opened 
your  graves,  O  my  people,  and  brought  you  out  of 
your  graves,  and  shall  put  my  Spirit  upon  you,  and  ye 
shall  live,  and  I  shall  place  you  in  your  own  land :  then 
shall  ye  know  that  I  the  Lord  have  spoken  it,  and 
performed  it,  saith  the  Lord"  (Ezek.  37:  12,  13;  Hosea 
13:  14;  John  5:28;  Dan.  12:2;  Ps.  31:  17;  Ex.  12:33; 
I  Tim.  5:6).  Life  and  death  are  states  of  the  soul, 
and  not  of  the  body.  "  It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth, 
the  flesh  profiteth  nothing." 


Moses  233 

Moses,  when  forty  years  of  age,  fled  the  land  of 
carnality.  This  was  the  dawn  of  his  resurrection. 
The  method  of  the  soul's  evolution  is:  first  the  resurrec- 
tion, first  an  awakening  out  of  a  state  of  carnality  and 
death,  and  then  the  judgment.  "For  it  is  appointed 
unto  man  once  to  die  [to  the  sensuous  animal  world] 
and  after  this  the  judgment,"  the  crisis  (Heb.  9:27). 
The  judgment,  or  crisis,  is  represented  in  the  experience 
in  the  wilderness;  it  is  represented  in  a  period  of  suffer- 
ing, of  discipline,  of  trial,  and  of  sorrow.  During  this 
period  the  animal  nature  of  man  is  crucified.  Accord- 
ing to  the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  it  is  in  the 
wilderness  that  man  sacrifices  his  animal  propensities. 
"They  that  are  Christ's  [they  that  walk  in  obedience  to 
conscience,  and  reason]  have  crucified  the  flesh;  they 
have  crucified  the  affections  and  lusts  of  the  flesh" 
(Gal.  5:  24).  The  affections  and  lusts  of  the  flesh  are 
the  vestiges  of  animalism  inhering  in  the  soul  of  man. 

Moses'  life,  according  to  the  symbolism  of  the 
Scriptures,  may  be  divided  into  three  epochs,  often 
denominated  "three  days."  "Behold,  I  cast  out 
devils,  and  I  do  cures  to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  the 
third  day  I  shall  be  perfected  "  (Luke  13 :  32 ;  Hosea  6:2; 
Ex.  19:  II ;  2  Kings  20:  5).  .  .  .  It  is  written  that  the 
first  forty  years  of  Moses'  life  were  spent  in  Egypt, 
this  was  the  first  day;  then  Moses  is  said  to  have 
abandoned  Egypt,  and  to  have  lived  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness,  this  was  the  second  day;  and  then  he  was 
the  spiritual  teacher  of  his  people  for  forty  years,  this 
was  the  "third  day."  It  is,  therefore,  apparent,  that 
Moses  attained  to  what  Jesus  called  "my  day"  (John 
8:  56),  the  day  of  the  resurrection. 

The  resurrection  of  man  out  of  a  state  of  carnality 
and  death  into  a  state  of  spirituality  and  life  represents 


234  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

a  process  essentially  psychological.  Moses,  it  would 
seem,  experienced  the  dawn  of  his  resurrection,  "when 
he  came  to  years,  when  he  chose  rather  to  suffer  afflic- 
tion," than  to  enjoy  the  sensuous  life  of  Egypt;  he 
experienced  the  dawn  of  his  resurrection,  when  he  aban- 
doned "the  fashion  of  the  world"  and  went  straight- 
way into  the  wilderness.  But  the  final  resurrection, 
the  resurrection  that  brought  him  into  a  conscious 
relation  with  the  Kingdom  of  God,  was  at  Horeb  at 
the  beginning  of  the  "third  day";  this  was  the  begin- 
ning of  "the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord" 
(Mai.  4:5).  Moses  was  resurrected  from  the  dead 
at  the  "mountain  of  God,  at  Horeb"  (Ex.  3:1).  They 
that  are  resurrected  from  the  dead,  while  living  in  the 
flesh,  are  our  masters;  they  are  consciously  related  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God ;  and  are  the  true  religious  teachers  of 
mankind.  "And  he  sent  them  to  preach  the  kingdom 
of  God,  and  to  heal  the  sick"  (Luke  9:2;  Matt.  10:  7). 
Jesus  taught  that  Moses  was  resurrected  from  the  dead 
at  Horeb  (Luke  20:  37,  38;  Mark  12:  26,  27). 

The  human  soul  attains  to  its  own,  to  virtue,  by  a 
protracted  conflict  with  evil;  virtue  is  born  of  a  long- 
drawn-out  struggle  and  bitter  experience.  First  the 
resurrection  from  a  state  of  death,  and  then  the  judg- 
ment, the  crisis,  the  conflict,  the  bitter  experience, 
symbolized  by  a  period  of  trial,  of  sorrow,  of  chastening, 
of  discipline,  and  of  suffering  in  the  wilderness. 

"Moses  fled  from  the  face  of  Pharaoh,  and  dwelt  in 
the  land  of  Median ;  and  he  sat  down  by  a  well.  Now 
the  priest  of  Median  had  seven  daughters."  These 
daughters,  we  are  told,  visited  this  well,  and  watered 
their  father's  flock.  The  well  is  a  symbol  of  knowledge ; 
he  who  would  teach,  and  he  who  would  be  t'aught,  must 
go  to  the  well,  the  meeting  place  of  the  people  in  the 


Moses  235 

wilderness.  Seven  indicates  perfection.  We  believe 
that  the  seven  daughters  of  the  "priest  of  Median," 
who  led  their  father's  flock  to  the  well,  represent  good- 
ness and  purity  of  heart.  They  who  are  possessed  of 
the  greatest  goodness  of  heart  know  most  of  sorrow. 
These  messengers  of  the  priest  of  Median  were  driven 
away  from  the  well;  and  were  not  permitted  to  water 
their  father's  flock  in  peace;  but  the  day  was  when  a 
mighty  man  of  reason  and  dauntless  courage  came  to 
their  rescue,  and  dispensed  the  water  of  the  well  justly, 
and  he  became  the  shepherd  of  the  flock  of  the  priest  of 
Median. 

The  seven  daughters  of  the  priest  of  Median  are  in 
the  wilderness;  they  represent  a  state  of  consciousness 
transcending  that  of  Egypt;  they  represent  a  mediate 
state  of  human  development;  a  state  wherein  man  is 
controlled  by  his  feelings  rather  than  Reason.  Moses 
supplants  the  daughters  of  the  priest  of  Median  in  the 
keeping  of  the  flock.  Reason,  the  virtue  of  the  head, 
is  entitled  to  lead;  it  is  the  true  guardian  of  the  flock. 
"I  suffer  not  a  woman  to  teach,  nor  to  usurp  authority 
over  the  man,  but  to  be  in  silence.  For  Adam  was 
first  formed,  then  Eve.  And  Adam  was  not  [the 
first]  deceived,  but  the  woman  being  deceived  was  in 
the  transgression"  (i  Tim.  2:  12-14).  Th*8  we  would 
interpret:  I  suffer  not  the  heart,  the  affections,  the 
feelings,  to  usurp  the  authority  of  reason,  but  to  be 
silent  when  reason  speaks;  for  Adam,  the  mind,  is  not 
the  first  to  be  deceived ;  it  is  the  affections,  the  feelings 
that  are  the  first  to  transgress,  to  be  victimized  by  the 
wiles  of  Satan. 

"He  led  the  flock  to  the  back  side  of  the  desert, 
and  came  to  the  mountain  of  God,  even  to  Horeb." 
By  this  we  understand,  that  Moses  drank  the  cup  of 


236  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

adversity  to  its  dregs;  that  he  experienced  all  the 
hardships  of  the  desert  life;  that  he  exhausted  this  life 
of  "provocation"  (Ps.  95:8).  He  who  would  be  a 
perfect  man,  and  attain  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature 
of  the  fullness  of  Christ,  must  lead  the  flock  to  the 
back  side  of  the  desert,  even  to  Horeb.  Moses,  like  all 
the  great,  suffered  all  the  temptations;  and  like  a 
mighty  hero  proved  himself  worthy.  "And  when  the 
devil  had  ended  all  the  temptations,  he  departed  from 
him  for  a  season"  (Luke  4:  13).  This  is  the  fate  of  all 
the  great.  All  human  souls  are  essentially  alike; 
and  One  Divine  Law  fixes  the  mode  and  man- 
ner of  the  soul's  evolution.  Therefore,  let  no  one 
believe  that  he  can  escape  the  responsibilities  of 
life.  "God  is  no  respecter  of  persons."  "What  shall 
I  do,  that  I  may  inherit  eternal  life?"  (Mark  10: 17). 
Lead  the  flock  to  the  back  side  of  the  desert,  even 
to  Horeb.  "Ye  shall  drink  indeed  of  my  cup,  and 
be  baptized  with  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized 
with." 

"Remember  Lot's  wife,"  who  sacrificed  the  blessings 
of  heaven  because  her  heart  was  set  upon  the  things 
of  the  world.  "Whosoever  shall  seek  to  save  his  life 
[by  accumulating  the  goods  of  the  world]  shall  lose  it; 
and  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  [his  love  of  the  sensuous 
carnal  world]  shall  preserve  his  life."  He  who  leads 
the  flock  to  the  back  side  of  the  desert,  to  the  mountain 
of  God,  even  to  Horeb,  ventures  the  temporal.  "Re- 
member ye  the  Law  of  my  servant  Moses."  This 
Law  unequivocally  teaches  that  man  cannot  attain 
to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  which  is  not  of  this  world, 
without  dying  to  the  world,  without  venturing  the 
temporal.  He  that  is  born  into  the  Kingdom  of  God 
must  die  to  the  world;  this  is  the  resurrection,  that 


Moses  237 

precedes  the  judgment,  the  crisis.  This  is  the  message 
of  all  the  great.  This  is  the  Law. 

The  vegetable  kingdom  feeds  upon  and  sacrifices  the 
mineral  kingdom;  the  animal  kingdom  feeds  upon  and 
sacrifices  the  vegetable  kingdom;  and  the  human 
kingdom  feeds  upon  and  sacrifices  the  animal  kingdom. 
Reason  is  the  governing  principle  of  the  human  soul; 
reason,  manas,  the  thinker,  the  man,  is  given  dominion 
over  all  below  him ;  reason  relates  man  to  God ;  and  was 
put  into  the  human  soul,  into  the  Garden  of  Eden 
"to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it."  This  is  the  divine  office 
of  reason  expressed  in  brief  scriptural  phrase. 

Plato  speaks  of  the  offices  of  the  four  cardinal  virtues. 
The  virtue  of  reason,  he  calls  Wisdom —  this  is  the 
directing  and  measuring  virtue,  since  it  must  govern 
the  soul;  the  virtue  of  the  heart  is  Valor,  the  helpmeet 
of  reason;  the  virtue  by  which  the  sensuous  desires  are 
restrained  and  conquered  is  Temperance;  and  lastly 
the  virtue  which  gives  poise  and  balance  to  the  soul, 
and  which  proves  the  three  principles  of  the  soul  to  be 
in  accord  and  harmony,  is  Justice. 

It  is  apparent  that  the  virtuous  and  God-fearing 
Plato,  like  all  the  truly  wise  of  ancient  times,  had  true 
knowledge  of  the  Law  of  Human  Life,  but  it  will  be 
recalled  that  the  great  Moses  proclaimed  Heaven's 
Law  to  his  people  a  thousand  years  before  Socrates 
dispensed  the  bread  of  life  to  his  disciples  in  the  city  of 
Athens.  The  great  Athenian  philosopher,  in  the  second 
book  of  his  dialogue,  The  Republic,  describes  the  Law  of 
Life  that  inheres  in  the  human  soul;  and  in  substance 
says:  The  three  principles  of  the  soul  of  man  may  be 
compared  to  the  higher,  lower,  and  middle  notes  of  the 
music  scale,  and  to  the  intermediate  intervals;  and  when 
these  principles  are  bound  together,  and  are  no  longer 


238  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

many,  but  are  one  entirely  temperate  and  perfectly 
adjusted  nature,  then  does  man  begin  to  act  in  the 
spirit  of  Wisdom  and  of  Justice. 

He  who  is  unfaithful  to  reason  lives  in  Sodom;  and 
if  he  persists  in  the  abuse  of  reason,  he  will  be  smitten 
with  blindness,  and  will  be  "worried  to  find  the  door" 
(Gen.  19: 1 1).  "Evil  is  evil  because  it  is  unnatural." 
Righteousness  is  righteousness  because  it  is  natural, 
because  it  harmonizes  with  human  nature.  The  more 
a  man  persists  in  evil,  the  more  helpless  he  becomes, 
the  more  will  he  be  "worried  to  find  the  door."  "Be 
not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked,  for  whatsoever  a  man 
soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap."  The  Law  of  Human 
Life  is  exact;  it  is  imperative;  it  suffers  no  wrong  to 
go  unpunished,  and  no  virtue  unrewarded.  The 
principles,  heralded  by  Moses,  are  not  limited  to  one 
nation,  race,  or  people;  they  are  alike  applicable  to 
every  rational  being,  everywhere  and  at  all  times. 
The  Law  of  Human  Life  is  addressed  to  every  rational 
being.  "All  things  must  be  fulfilled,  which  were  written 
in  the  Law  of  Moses  .  .  .  concerning  me"  (Luke  24: 
44).  Reader,  the  Law  of  Moses  was  written  concerning 
you,  and  concerning  me.  Emerson  in  the  closing 
words  of  his  essay  on  Self-Reliance  tells  of  the  utter 
vanity  of  expecting  permanent  good  as  a  result  of 
outward  worldly  considerations,  and  says:  "Nothing 
can  bring  you  peace  but  yourself.  Nothing  can  bring 
you  peace  but  the  triumph  of  principles." 

We  are  told  that  this  mighty  man  of  God,  who  went 
to  "the  mountain  of  God,  even  to  Horeb,"  came  face 
to  face  with  God;  that  God  called  unto  him  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  bush,  "and  said,  Moses,  Moses,  And  he 
said,  Here  am  I."  "  Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet, 
(said  the  Divine  voice)  for  the  place  whereon  thou 


Moses  239 

standest  is  holy  ground."  He  who  hears  the  Divine 
voice  and  is  commissioned  of  Heaven  must  remove  his 
shoes  from  off  his  feet.  Shoes  are  a  symbol  of  the 
outward  and  the  earthly.  Worldly  cares,  worldly 
thoughts,  and  worldly  interests  must  be  put  away. 
He  who  would  do  the  will  of  Heaven  must  be  free  from 
the  cares  of  the  world.  "The  cares  of  the  world  choke 
the  Word  of  God."  Moses  has  fled  the  carnal  life  of 
Egypt;  he  is  resurrected  from  the  dead;  he  has  suffered 
the  judgment,  the  chastening,  the  discipline,  that  the 
Law  of  Human  Life,  of  evolution,  imposes;  he  has  put 
his  shoes  from  off  his  feet;  he  has  escaped  from  the 
obsessions  of  the  world;  he  has  overcome  the  world; 
and  he  is  commissioned  to  do  the  will  of  Heaven. 

It  is  just  to  say  that  he  who  has  put  his  shoes  from 
off  his  feet,  and  stands  on  holy  ground,  is  entirely 
dedicated  to  the  service  of  God.  He  who  is  found 
worthy  and  is  called  and  commissioned  to  teach  and 
point  the  way  of  salvation  is  given  wisdom  and 
power  commensurate  with  the  duties  of  his  holy  office. 
Moses  is  commanded  to  go  to  Egypt,  the  land  of  Ham; 
and  lead  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  bondage.  The 
bondage  from  which  he  is  to  free  them,  is  the  bondage 
of  death,  the  bondage  of  carnality;  the  Scriptures  teach 
that  all  evil  is  orginated  by  the  unrestrained  and 
unsubdued  animal  propensities  that  inhere  in  the 
lower  principle  of  the  human  soul;  Egypt  is  the 
land  of  carnality:  of  envy,  of  malice,  of  greed,  of 
concupiscence,  of  lies,  and  of  murder.  It  is  the 
abode  of  the  irrational,  the  primitive  man,  the  land  of 
"shame"  (Isa.  30  :  3>- 

All  wickedness  is  weakness. 

MILTON. 


240  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

"And  thou  shalt  say  unto  Pharaoh,  Thus  sayeth  the 
Lord,  Israel  is  My  son,  even  My  first-born :  And  I  say 
unto  thee,  Let  My  son  go,  that  he  may  serve  me." 
Reason,  pure  reason,  we  believe  to  be  the  first-born  of 
God.  They  who  flee  from  the  land  of  carnality  are  the 
children  of  Israel,  the  children  of  Reason.  The  fifth 
chapter  of  Exodus  opens  with  a  remarkable  colloquy. 
Moses  and  Aaron  are  represented  as  speaking  to  Pha- 
raoh as  they  were  moved  to  speak  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
"Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  Let  My  people 
go,  that  they  may  hold  a  feast  unto  me  in  the  wilder- 
ness. And  Pharaoh  said,  Who  is  the  Lord,  that  I 
should  obey  His  voice  to  let  Israel  go.  I  know  not  the 
Lord,  neither  will  I  let  Israel  go."  Here  is  Moses,  the 
man  of  God,  who  has  attained  to  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
the  kingdom  of  right  reason,  and  who  is  truly  the  son  of 
God  (Ex.  7:  i),  standing  face  to  face  with  Pharaoh, 
the  King  of  Egypt,  the  representative  of  carnality, 
the  representative  of  those  who  are  said  to  be  dead  and 
in  their  graves  (Ezek.  37: 12,  13;  Hosea  13: 14;  Dan. 
12:  2;  John  5:  28;  Eph.  5: 14).  "The  Egyptians  said, 
We  be  all  dead  men"  (Ex.  12:  33).  Moses,  the  son  of 
God,  in  this  dead,  animalized  presence,  affirms  that  the 
Lord  God  is;  and  said:  "Let  us  go,  we  pray  thee, 
three  days'  journey  into  the  desert,  and  sacrifice  to 
the  Lord  our  God."  "I  know  not  the  Lord,  neither 
will  I  let  Israel  go."  This  is  the  boast  of  carnality; 
this  is  the  attitude  of  the  tyrant;  it  is  the  attitude  of  him 
who  would  exploit  others  to  the  end  that  he  may  live 
an  idle,  sinful,  and  luxurious  life. 

The  first  Book  of  Moses,  or  Genesis,  is  the  book  of 
the  generations  of  real  men;  in  this  book  we  read  the 
story  of  Adam,  of  Enoch,  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  of 
Jacob,  of  Joseph,  and  of  others.  The  lives  of  the  pa- 


Moses  241 

triarchs  are  placed  before  us  not  as  a  matter  of  history; 
but  that  we  may  read  in  their  lives  the  story  of  the 
human  soul;  and  thus  discover  the  way  of  salvation; 
the  mode  and  manner  of  the  soul's  evolution. 

The  story  of  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  is  first 
brought  to  our  attention  in  the  Scriptures,  in  the 
second  chapter  of  the  second  Book  of  Moses,  called 
Exodus.  This  book,  so  full  of  the  activities  of  this 
mighty  man  of  God,  presents  to  the  mind  the  exodus 
of  man  from  a  state  of  carnality  and  death  into  a  state  of 
spirituality  and  life.  The  name  of  the  book  "Exodus, " 
that  tells  us  so  much  of  the  life  of  Moses,  means  "way 
out."  The  "way  out"  of  carnality,  or  death,  the 
way  of  salvation,  was  taught  by  Moses  in  a  marvelous 
variety  of  symbols.  According  to  this  symbolism, 
man  is  first  of  Egypt,  or  the  tail;  and  secondly  of  the 
desert,  or  the  heart ;  and  lastly  of  the  promised  land,  or 
the  head.  This  is  the  order  of  the  soul's  evolution; 
reason  was  put  into  the  human  soul  "to  dress  it  and  to 
keep  it " ;  and  to  make  it  a  veritable  paradise,  a  veritable 
Garden  of  Eden.  "And  the  Lord  shall  make  thee  the 
head,  and  not  the  tail;  and  thou  shalt  be  above  only, 
and  thou  shalt  not  be  beneath"  (Deut.  28:13;  Isa. 

9:i5)- 

Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  points  and  leads  the 
"way  out " ;  he  who  leads  the  way  must  first  have  found 
it.  Moses  found  the  way  to  the  mountain  of  God,  even 
to  Horeb,  and  was  prepared  to  lead.  Moses  knew, 
that  man,  would  he  be  a  man,  must  flee  the  carnal  life; 
and  that  the  Law  of  Life  must  be  written  in  the  soul  of 
man  if  he  would  attain  to  his  true  inheritance.  Moses 
knew  that  all  sin,  sickness,  and  death  originate  with 
carnal  man,  with  carnal  mind.  Moses  knew  that  sin, 
sickness,  and  death  are  conditions  of  the  soul,  and  not 

16 


242  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  the  body;  that  the  physical  body  reflects  only  the 
conditions  inhering  in  the  soul.  "Inasmuch  as  the 
soul  is  manifestly  immortal,"  says  Plato,  "there  is  no 
release  or  salvation  from  evil  except  the  attainment  of 
the  highest  virtue  and  wisdom." 

Life  is  real !     Life  is  earnest ! 

And  the  grave  is  not  its  goal; 
Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  returneth, 

Was  not  spoken  of  the  soul. 

LONGFELLOW. 

Moses  knew  that  man  is  the  victim  of  every  form  of 
superstition,  of  heresy,  and  of  evil,  so  long  as  he  abides 
in  the  Egyptian  state  of  consciousness.  This  recalls 
Prof.  William  James's  oft-repeated  definition  of  Psy- 
chology: "The  description  and  explanation  of  the  states 
of  consciousness  as  such."  The  life  and  teachings  of 
Moses  constitute,  as  we  believe,  the  most  profound, 
accurate,  and  succinct  "description  and  explanation 
of  states  of  consciousness  as  such"  ever  given  to  the 
world  by  any  one  at  any  time.  Psychology  from  its 
very  nature  is  the  first  of  sciences;  that  science  which 
teaches  the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  mode  and 
manner  of  its  evolution,  should  be  accorded  the  first 
place  in  science,  and  be  the  subject  of  thoughtful  and 
candid  consideration  by  every  rational  being. 

"Science,"  says  Herbert  Spencer,  "is  organized 
knowledge;  and  before  knowledge  can  be  organized, 
some  of  it  must  first  be  possessed."  Moses,  having 
given  to  mankind  organized  knowledge  of  the  highest 
character,  we  would  assign  him  to  the  first  place  in  the 
world  of  science.  "Remember  ye  the  Law  of  Moses 
My  servant,  which  I  commanded  unto  him  in  Horeb 
for  all  Israel,  with  the  statutes  and  judgments."  The 


Moses  243 

imperative  command  of  this  law  is:  Get  ye  out  of 
Egypt.  Egyptians,  "thou  dwellest  where  Satan's 
seat  is"  (Rev.  2: 13;  Hosea  13: 13). 

Again  we  desire  to  quote  Prof.  William  James,  who 
has  been  called  "The  unchallenged  veteran  leader 
of  American  Psychology  and  Philosophy."  He  said, 
"Consciousness,  then,  does  not  appear  to  itself  chopped 
up  in  bits.  Such  words  as  'chain*  or  'train'  do  not 
describe  it  fitly  as  it  presents  itself  in  the  first  instance. 
It  is  nothing  jointed;  it  flows.  A  'river'  or  a  'stream* 
are  the  metaphors  by  which  it  is  most  naturally  de- 
scribed. In  talking  of  it  hereafter,  let  us  call  it  the 
stream  of  thought,  of  consciousness,  or  of  subjective 
life."  Moses  is  the  name  of  him  who  was  drawn  out  of 
the  water  of  the  Nile;  the  dirty  water  of  the  Nile  is  a 
symbol  of  carnal  animalized  mind.  Moses  abandoned 
Egypt;  and  went  into  a  desert  land.  It  was  there  that 
he  led  the  flock  to  the  back  side  of  the  desert,  to  the 
mountain  of  God,  even  to  Horeb.  At  the  mountain  of 
God,  even  at  Horeb,  he  was  commissioned  of  Heaven  to 
lead  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  a  state  of  carnality 
and  death.  He  was  commissioned  to  lead  and  to  teach 
the  children  of  Israel  to  the  end  that  they  might  be 
born  into  a  high  and  holy  state  of  consciousness,  of  life. 
"And  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness 
[the  symbol  of  the  crucified  desires  of  the  flesh]  even 
so  must  the  son  of  man  be  lifted  up"  (John  3:  14). 
Every  son  of  man,  would  he  attain  to  his  true  inherit- 
ance, must  be  lifted  up  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent. 

"From  whence  come  wars  and  fightings  among  ye?" 
(James  4:  i).  Moses  knew  from  whence  come  wars 
and  fightings  and  sin,  sickness,  and  death;  therefore, 
the  significant  request:  "Let  us  go,  we  pray  thee, 
three  days'  journey  into  the  desert,  and  sacrifice  to 


244  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  Lord  our  God;  lest  he  fall  upon  us  with  pestilence 
or  with  the  sword"  (Ex.  5:3).  Three  is  indicative  of 
perfection.  Three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness 
will  absolve  Israel  from  the  impending  perils  of  pesti- 
lence and  the  sword,  and  put  Israel  under  the  guidance 
of  virtue  and  wisdom,  represented  in  the  person  of 
Moses.  The  pestilence  and  the  sword  are  forever 
in  evidence  "in  the  streets  of  the  great  city  which, 
spiritually,  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt,  where  also  our 
Lord  was  crucified"  (Rev.  n :  8). 

The  lordly  man,  the  man  of  right  reason,  the 
prophet  sent  of  God,  has  often  met  with  violence  and 
crucifixion  at  the  hands  of  the  carnally  minded.  In 
the  days  when  Moses  was  pleading  the  cause  of  his 
people,  in  the  presence  of  the  sensuous  and  animal- 
worshiping  Pharaoh,  plagues,  we  are  told,  came  thick 
and  fast  upon  the  people  of  Egypt;  plagues  always 
come  thick  and  fast  just  before  the  dawn  of  a  better  day. 
When  "a  great  prophet  is  risen  up"  and  comes  to 
deliver  those  desirous  of  salvation,  then  it  is  said: 
"that  God  hath  visited  His  people"  (Luke  7:  16). 
"Inasmuch  as  the  soul  is  manifestly  immortal,"  it 
would  seem  that  man,  first  of  all,  would  desire  its  per- 
fection; but  this  is  not  true  of  carnal  man;  he  entreats 
the  wise  man  to  "take  away  the  frogs,"  and  the  flies 
that  annoy  him  (Ex.  8:8,  28,  29).  The  wicked  man 
forever  puts  off  the  day  of  his  deliverance.  "And 
Moses  said  unto  Pharaoh,  .  .  .  when  shall  I  entreat 
for  thee.  And  he  said  to-morrow"  (Ex.  8:9,  10). 
The  carnal  man  is  willing  to  sacrifice  all  for  bodily 
pleasure  and  comfort,  and  thus  it  is  that  Christ,  or 
right  reason,  is  forever  crucified  in  Egypt  (Rev.  n:  8). 
The  Egyptians  are  not  concerned  about  their  souls 
which  are  "manifestly  immortal";  they  are  concerned 


Moses  245 

about  their  bodies;  and  he  who  is  enamored  of  the 
carnal  life  is  destined  to  be  hurried,  worried,  and 
preoccupied  with  the  cares  of  the  world;  and  to  die 
miserably. 

Ah,  what  a  sign  it  is  of  evil  life, 
Where  death's  approach  is  seen  so  terrible. 

Henry  VI. 

Pharaoh  and  his  people  were  worried  of  the  plagues. 
"And  Pharaoh  called  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  said, 
Go  ye,  sacrifice  to  your  God  in  the  land.  And  Moses 
said,  It  is  not  meet  so  to  do;  for  we  shall  sacrifice  the 
abomination  of  the  Egyptians  to  the  Lord  our  God;  lo,  shall 
we  sacrifice  the  abomination  of  the  Egyptians  before 
their  eyes,  and  will  they  not  stone  us?  We  will  go 
three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness,  and  sacrifice 
to  the  Lord  our  God,  as  He  shall  command  us"  (Ex. 
8:25-28).  The  Egyptians  loved  the  carnal  animal 
life;  and  "their  abominations  were  according  as  they 
loved"  (Hosea  9:  10).  "We  shall  sacrifice  the  abomi- 
nations of  the  Egyptians,"  said  Moses;  we  shall  sacri- 
fice what  the  Egyptians  adore.  According  to  the 
symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  a  shepherd  is  one  whose 
life  is  addicted  to  virtue  and  reason;  when  shall  we 
triumph  against  carnality,  against  him,  the  prince  of 
the  world,  who  is  the  author  of  our  undoing?  When 
we  "raise  against  him  seven  shepherds  and  eight 
principal  men  "  (Mic.  5:5).  This  means  that  man  shall 
attain  to  his  own  with  the  perfection  of  reason. 

Carnal  mind  is  unfriendly  to  wisdom.  "And  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  when  Pharaoh  shall  call  you,  and  shall 
say,  What  is  your  occupation?  That  ye  shall  say, 
Thy  servant's  trade  hath  been  about  cattle  from  our 
youth  until  now,  both  we,  and  also  our  fathers:  that 


246  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

ye  may  dwell  in  the  land  of  Goshen;  for  every  shepherd 
is  an  abomination  unto  the  Egyptians"  (Gen.  46:34). 
The  great  shepherds  of  Israel  were  inspired  philosophers. 
"Philosophers,"  says  Plato,  "must  inevitably  fall 
under  the  censure  of  the  world."  It  therefore  follows 
that  the  animal  propensities  of  man,  which  the  Egyp- 
tians indulged,  and  in  fact,  worshiped,  were  to  be  sac- 
rificed by  the  Israelites.  Moses  pointed  the  Exodus, 
the  "way  out,"  of  the  animal  life. 

The  animal  sacrifices  of  which  so  much  is  said  in 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  are  symbolic;  they  are 
intended  to  show  and  do  show  the  mode  and  manner 
whereby  the  human  soul  is  freed  from  its  animal  pro- 
pensities; the  mode  and  manner  whereby  man  is  lifted 
up,  is  freed  from  the  Egyptian  state  of  consciousness. 
Moses  knew  the  Law  of  Human  Life,  the  Law  of  Evolu- 
tion thirty-three  hundred  years  before  the  coming  of 
Charles  Darwin ;  and  he  knew  this  Law  in  its  profound- 
est  depths,  as  it  inheres  in  the  human  soul  itself,  not 
from  the  mere  study  of  phenomena,  but  from  that  god- 
like spiritual  vision  which  beholds  the  nature  of  things 
as  they  are  in  truth,  and  not  as  they  seem  to  debauched 
and  fallen  man. 

"The  observation  of  Nature, "  said  Goethe,  "requires 
a  certain  purity  of  mind,  which  cannot  be  disturbed  or 
preoccupied  by  anything."  When  the  human  soul  is 
just  and  upright  before  God,  it  is  the  organ  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  from  which  all  Truth  proceeds.  This 
fundamental  truth  was  again  and  again  repeated  by 
that  kindly  disposed  and  God-fearing  man,  George 
Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 

For  I  saw  in  the  Light  and  Spirit  which  was  before  the 
Scriptures  were  given  forth,  and  which  led  the  holy  men  of 


Moses  247 

God  to  give  them  forth,  that  all,  if  they  would  know  God 
and  Christ,  or  the  Scriptures  aright,  must  come  into  the 
Spirit  by  which  they  that  gave  them  forth  were  led  and 
taught.  ...  I  directed  all  [says  Fox]  to  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  themselves ;  that  they  might  be  turned  from  dark- 
ness unto  Light,  and  believe  in  It;  that  they  might  become 
the  children  of  It,  and  might  be  turned  from  the  power  of 
Satan  unto  God;  and  by  the  Spirit  of  truth  might  be  led 
into  all  truth,  and  sensibly  understand  the  words  of  the 
prophets. 

Moses  was  commissioned  to  lead  the  children  of  Israel 
out  of  darkness  and  into  the  Divine  Light,  to  turn  them 
from  the  power  of  Satan,  carnal  consciousness,  to  the 
kingdom  of  reason,  the  image  of  the  living  God. 

The  Law  of  Heaven,  the  Law  of  Moses,  is  imperative; 
its  punitive  power  is  not  the  result  of  whimsical  passion ; 
he  that  obeys  this  Law  conforms  to  the  Divine  Order; 
and  he  that  offends  against  it  is  the  victim  of  inharmony, 
sin,  sickness,  and  death.  Man,  Manas,  Reason,  was 
put  into  the  human  soul  to  the  end  that  this  Law  might 
be  obeyed.  This  Law  bespeaks  obedience  or  death. 
"But  the  Word  [the  truth]  is  very  nigh  unto  thee,  in 
thy  mouth,  and  in  thy  heart,  that  thou  mayst  do  it. 
...  I  call  heaven  and  earth  to  record  this  day  against 
you,  that  I  have  set  before  you  life  and  death,  blessings 
and  curses:  therefore  choose  life"  (Deut.  30:  14,  19). 
They  who  flee  Egypt  and  sacrifice  those  vestiges  of 
animalism  that  inhere  in  their  souls,  choose  life.  This 
peremptory  Law  commands  all  rational  beings  to  flee 
Egypt,  and  never  to  return  that  way  again.  "The 
Lord  hath  said  unto  you,  Ye  shall  henceforth  return 
no  more  that  way"  (Deut.  17: 16). 

Emerson,  in  his  essay  on  History,  tells  us  that  "Men 
and  women  are  only  half  human";  that  every  animal 


248  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

has  contrived  to  leave  the  imprint  of  its  features  upon 
man.  "Ah,  brother,  hold  fast  to  the  man,  and  awe  the 
beast ;  stop  the  ebb  of  thy  soul — ebbing  downward  into 
the  forms  into  whose  habits  thou  hast  now  for  many 
years  slid."  The  Hebrew  Scriptures,  the  writings  of 
Plato,  and  mythology,  all  teach  in  unmistakable  terms 
that  the  soul  of  unregenerate  man  is  the  abode  of 
wild  and  unrestrained  animal  propensities.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  recount  the  "Twelve  Labors  of  Hercules." 
His  first,  we  are  told,  was  to  slay  the  Nemean  Lion; 
the  heart  is  in  the  sign  Leo ;  it  is  the  seat  of  valor;  he  who 
would  overcome  must  discipline  his  heart ;  the  affections 
must  act  in  obedience  to  reason.  His  second  labor  was 
to  destroy  the  Hydra  which  infested  the  marshes  of 
Lerna;  this  is  the  serpent  that  practices  his  wiles  upon 
each  of  us ;  and  if  we  would  attain  to  our  own,  we  must 
change  him  from  a  venomous  to  a  non-venomous 
serpent;  he  must  be  restrained  by  the  allied  power  of 
reason  and  a  righteous  heart.  The  eleventh  labor  of 
Hercules  was  to  overcome  a  serpent  and  bring  away 
golden  apples  from  the  garden  of  Hesperides.  Golden 
apples  are  no  doubt  the  symbol  of  wisdom.  Minerva, 
the  goddess  of  wisdom,  confers  her  blessing  upon  him 
only  who  has  conquered  and  slain  his  animals.  "Wis- 
dom hath  killed  her  beasts"  (Prov.  9:2).  Minerva 
herself  bears  upon  her  shield  the  head  of  Medusa,  the 
serpentine  goddess  whom  she  had  slain.  The  twelfth 
and  last  labor  of  Hercules  was  to  bring  from  Hades 
the  three-headed  dog,  Cerberus.  Man,  would  he  be  a 
man,  must  attain  to  perfection  in  head,  in  heart,  and  in 
loins.  This  story  is  told  in  the  poetry  of  the  ancients, 
in  their  mythologies,  in  philosophy,  and  in  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  this  is  the  doctrine  of  ancient  wisdom. 

It  would  be  worse  than  folly  to  attempt  to  minimize 


Moses  249 

the  importance  of  the  scientific  work  of  Charles  Darwin, 
and  his  co-laborer,  Alfred  Russell  Wallace,  and  those 
of  their  cult.  The  day  is  near  at  hand,  if  we  have  not 
already  reached  it,  when  all  enlightened  minds  will 
unite  in  the  acclaim  that  the  scientists  of  this  school 
have  rendered  the  cause  of  truth  an  invaluable  service. 
Truth  concerning  human  nature  is  worthy  of  all  respect ; 
and  they  who  have  labored  so  earnestly  and  unselfishly 
to  give  us  light  on  the  ever-recurring  problem  of  life — 
vegetable,  animal,  and  human — deserve  our  praise  and 
thanks.  This  school  has  done  a  very  great  service 
toward  restoring  the  ancient  doctrine  of  human  nature ; 
its -researches  prepare  the  way  for  what  we  conceive 
to  be  a  glorious  work,  the  restoration  of  the  ancient 
wisdom  religion. 

While  the  labors  of  this  school  of  science  were 
avowedly  secular,  they  have  rendered  Truth  an  ever- 
lasting service.  Truth  is  one ;  it  exists  in  unity,  and  its 
principles  are  eternal  and  unchangeable.  Religion  is 
founded  upon  the  nature  of  the  human  soul  itself.  The 
Lord  God  who  formed  the  human  soul,  and  endowed 
it  with  intelligence,  hath  given  it  a  law  that  inheres  in 
its  own  nature.  The  wise  tell  us  that  the  human  soul 
is  an  epitome  of  the  universe.  "The  roots  of  all 
things  are  in  man,"  says  Emerson.  This  miniature 
universe  is  related  to  all  below  it,  and  all  above  it. 
Modern  science  has  told  us  much  of  man's  relation  to 
what  is  below  him;  and  the  office  of  religion  is  to  teach 
him  his  true  relation  to  what  is  above  him. 

Religion,  therefore,  is  the  friend  of  all  truth;  and 
all  truth  points  the  way  to  it.  "He  that  doeth  the 
truth  cometh  to  the  light"  (John  3:21).  Men  in- 
stead of  making  all  things  pertaining  to  their  souls, 
"after  the  pattern  which  was  shown  Moses  on  the 


250  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

mount"  (Ex.  25:40);  and  instead  of  looking  for  and 
finding  the  Law  inhering  in  their  own  souls  "went  a 
whoring  with  their  own  inventions"  (Ps.  106:39); 
and  have  filled  the  world  with  heresies  and  warring 
sects.  They  of  ancient  and  of  modern  times  who  have 
aided  us  in  obtaining  better  and  truer  views  of  life 
and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its  evolution,  have  made 
all  rational  beings  their  debtors.  We  should  hail  them 
as  the  chief  benefactors  of  mankind.  Let  us  again 
turn  to  the  marvelous  utterances  of  him  who  thirty- 
three  centuries  ago  gave  to  his  people  the  Law  of  the 
"One  Law-giver  who  is  able  to  save  and  to  destroy." 

In  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  Exodus,  we  read  that 
Israel,  "in  the  third  month,"  camped  in  the  wilderness 
before  the  Mount  of  Sinai.  This  is  the  theater  of  the 
world's  greatest  event,  the  giving  of  the  Law.  It  is 
here  that  Moses  proclaimed  the  Law  of  Human  Life. 
"Ye  have  seen  what  I  did  unto  the  Egyptians  [the 
sensuous  and  carnal],  and  how  I  bare  you  on  eagles' 
wings,  and  brought  you  unto  Myself.  Now  therefore, 
if  ye  will  obey  My  voice  indeed,  and  keep  My  covenant, 
then  ye  shall  be  a  peculiar  treasure  unto  Me  above  all 
people:  for  all  the  earth  is  Mine"  (Ex.  19:  4,  5). 
When  man  is  confronted  with  trial,  with  temptation, 
and  with  suffering,  then  is  he  brought  near  unto  God; 
then  is  his  opportunity  to  live  worthy  of  the  Law,  and  to 
be  a  "peculiar  treasure  unto  God."  Human  greatness 
consists  in  rising  superior  to  all  temptations;  and  in 
living  in  obedience  to  Heaven's  Law. 

Moses  is  the  intermediary  between  his  people  and 
their  God;  he  has  attained  to  the  "third  day,"  to  "my 
day"  (John  8:56);  he  has  attained  to  that  perfection 
of  soul  that  constitutes  him  a  true  prophet,  a  fit  organ 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "I  would  to  God  that  all  the 


Moses  251 

Lord's  people  were  prophets,  and  that  the  Lord  would 
put  His  Spirit  upon  them"  (Num.  n :  29).  Moses  and 
Jesus,  and  all  true  prophets,  have  desired  that  all  men 
should  attain  to  their  true  inheritance,  even  to  the  state 
of  prophecy.  Only  the  great  know  the  godlike  possi- 
bilities of  man.  "The  most  lamentable  scepticism  on 
earth,  and  incomparably  the  most  common,"  said 
William  Ellery  Channing,  "is  a  scepticism  as  to  the 
greatness,  powers,  and  high  destinies  of  human  nature." 

"Men  and  women  are  only  half  human,"  said  Emer- 
son; and  in  his  essay  on  Politics,  "We  live  in  a  very 
low  state  of  the  world,  and  pay  unwilling  tribute  to 
governments  founded  upon  force";  and  in  his  essay  on 
Character,  we  find  these  significant  words.  "We  have 
never  seen  a  man;  that  divine  form  we  do  not 
yet  know.  .  .  .  What  greatness  has  yet  appeared  is 
beginnings  and  encouragements  to  us  in  this  direction. 
The  history  of  those  gods  and  saints  which  the  world 
has  written,  and  then  worshiped,  are  documents  of 
character." 

What  we  know  of  truth  is  but  the  dawn  of  what  is  yet 
to  come.  In  the  lives,  in  the  characters,  of  the  patri- 
archs, and  of  Moses,  and  of  Jesus,  are  revealed  much 
of  the  possibilities  of  man.  The  character  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  faith  in  his  character,  hath  made  this  man 
strong,  whom  ye  see  and  know:  yea,  the  faith  which 
is  inspired  by  his  character  hath  given  him  this  perfect 
soundness  in  the  presence  of  you  all  (Acts  3: 16).  To 
the  extent  that  man  is  just,  to  the  extent  that  his 
soul  is  conformed  to  Heaven's  Law,  he  is  an  organ  of 
the  "power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God"  (i  Cor. 
1:24). 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  all  power  and  wisdom  is  of 
God;  and  that  God  puts  His  Spirit  upon  them  that 


252  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

"obey  His  voice  indeed,  and  keep  His  covenant"; 
man  must  obey  conscience  and  reason  if  he  would  at- 
tain to  greatness.  "Not  by  material  strength  [not  by 
animal  prowess]  and  political  power  shall  ye  prevail, 
but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord"  (Zech.  4:6).  "And 
the  Lord  .  .  .  took  of  the  Spirit  that  was  upon  Moses, 
and  put  it  upon  the  seventy  elders"  (Num.  11:17, 
25).  Every  true  and  upright  person  is  possessed  of 
healing  virtue  and  power  that  is  communicable  to  those 
who  are  prepared  to  receive,  and  who  are  willing  and 
desirous  to  receive.  "And  Abraham  gave  all  that  he 
had  unto  Isaac "  (Gen.  25 : 5) ;  and  thus  it  is  that 
we  read  of  the  blessings  conferred  by  the  patriarchs, 
and  prophets,  by  the  laying  on  of  hands.  "And  thou 
shalt  put  some  of  thine  honor  upon  him"  (Num.  27 :  20) . 
Jacob,  when  he  blessed  the  sons  of  Joseph,  said:  "Let 
my  name  [my  character]  be  named  on  them  and  the 
name  of  my  fathers  Abraham  and  Isaac"  (Gen.  48:  16). 
"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Go  unto  the  people 
and  sanctify  them  to-day,  and  to-morrow,  and  let  them 
wash  their  clothes,  and  be  ready  against  the  third  day; 
for  the  third  day  the  Lord  will  come  down  in  the  sight 
of  all  the  people  upon  Mount  Sinai"  (Ex.  19:  10,  n). 
This  language  was  intended  to  teach  and  does  teach 
the  mode  and  manner  of  the  soul's  evolution.  It  teaches 
that  man  must  flee  the  Egyptian  life,  and  must  cast  out 
his  devils,  his  animal  propensities;  that  he  must  do 
what  he  can  to  make  his  life  clean  and  wholesome; 
that  he  should  "wash  his  clothes,  and  be  ready  against 
the  third  day,"  "the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the 
Lord"  (Mai.  4:5).  It  is  on  the  third  day,  that  the 
Word  of  God,  or  the  unerring  truth,  symbolized  by 
the  dove,  is  said  to  descend  upon  man.  The  chapter 
before  us  teaches  in  unmistakable  terms,  as  do  all  the 


Moses  253 

Scriptures,  that  the  animal  nature  of  man  must  be 
sacrificed  before  he  can  make  the  ascent  of  the  spiritual 
mountain.  "Whosoever  toucheth  the  mountain  shall 
surely  be  put  to  death  .  .  .  whether  it  be  beast  or  man, 
it  shall  not  live"  (Ex.  19: 12,  13).  In  the  thirty-second 
chapter  of  Exodus,  we  read  that  while  Moses  was  absent 
on  the  mount,  the  children  "corrupted  themselves" 
by  worshiping  a  golden  calf;  and  that  Moses,  when  he 
beheld  the  infidelity  of  the  people,  and  saw  that  they 
had  lapsed  into  animal  worship,  cast  down  the  two  tables 
of  the  testimony  and  broke  them.  It  is  the  spirit 
of  animalism  that  always  breaks  the  Law,  that  prides 
itself  on  disobeying  the  divine  commands. 

"Men  and  women  are  only  half  human."  The 
work  of  the  prophet  is  to  free  the  people  from  the 
tyranny  of  carnal  mind,  from  the  tyranny  of  animalism, 
and  to  teach  them  the  way  of  humanism.  In  this 
chapter  we  are  told  that  Moses  burned  the  calf,  that  he 
ground  it  to  powder,  that  he  strewed  it  in  the  water, 
and  that  he  "made  the  children  of  Israel  to  drink  of 
it."  "And  Moses  saw  that  the  people  were  naked" 
(Ex.  32:25).  Man  is  naked  and  helpless  before  God 
as  long  as  he  is  the  victim  of  his  animal  propensities. 
Moses  commanded  that  the  Levites,  the  teachers  and 
caretakers  in  Israel,  should  slay:  "Every  man  his 
brother,  and  every  man  his  companion,  and  every 
man  his  neighbor";  and  there  fell  of  the  people  that 
day  about  three  thousand.  Every  human  being  has 
an  animal  brother,  an  animal  companion,  an  animal 
neighbor,  whose  power  he  must  conquer  and  destroy. 
By  this  we  do  not  understand  that  anybody  actually 
killed  anybody  else;  but  we  do  understand  that  the 
Levites  repented  of  their  folly  and  set  about  to  destroy 
their  animal  propensities,  and  pledged  themselves 


254  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

forever  to  worship  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  in  the  way 
that  Moses  had  taught  them.  In  ancient  times  this  was 
no  doubt  the  customary  method  of  stating  deep  truths. 
"Those  mine  enemies,  which  would  not  that  I  should 
reign  over  them,  bring  hither,  and  slay  them  before  me" 
(Luke  19:  27).  The  wise  engage  in  battles  wholly  un- 
known to  the  weak,  the  unthinking,  and  the  frivolous. 

Man,  would  he  be  a  man,  must  believe  in  a  rewarding 
presence.  "I  am  thy  shield  and  thy  exceeding  great 
reward."  He  must  believe  in  the  power  and  glory  of 
God,  he  must  believe  in  the  divinity  of  his  own  soul, 
if  he  would  be  resurrected  from  the  dead,  if  he  would 
find  the  "way  out"  of  the  Egyptian  state  of  con- 
sciousness. "And  [Jesus  was]  declared  to  be  the  son 
of  God  with  power,  according  to  the  spirit  of  holiness, 
by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead"  (Rom.  1:4). 
"Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures  to-day,  and 
to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  perfected" 
(Luke  13 132-34). 

Jesus,  like  Moses,  describes  the  three  stages  of 
the  soul's  evolution;  and  expresses  the  hope  that  the 
spirit  of  prophecy,  the  true  state  of  man  (Num.  1 1 :  29) 
should  never  perish  out  of  Jerusalem.  "For  it  cannot 
be  that  the  spirit  of  prophecy  shall  perish  out  of  Jeru- 
salem." Jesus  bemoans  the  fallen  and  carnal  state  of 
the  people  of  Jerusalem,  "which  killest  the  prophets 
and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto  thee."  He  ex- 
presses a  willingness  and  desire  to  exercise  his  holy 
offices  in  teaching  and  blessing  the  people.  "How 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together  as 
a  hen  gathereth  her  brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye 
would  not."  It  is  certainly  apparent  that  Jesus  taught 
the  same  fundamental  truths  concerning  human  nature 
that  were  taught  by  Moses  at  Sinai. 


Moses  255 

The  office  of  the  prophet  is  to  lead  the  people  out 
of  Egypt,  to  lead  them  away  from  the  carnal  life ;  and  to 
reveal  to  them  in  his  own  life  the  possibilities  of  man. 
All  power  is  of  God;  and  the  power  of  man  is  "accord- 
ing to  the  spirit  of  holiness"  within  his  own  soul.  He 
that  is  resurrected  from  the  dead  is  the  son  of  God. 
Salvation  is  personal.  "No  man  by  any  means  can 
redeem  his  brother,  nor  give  to  God  a  ransom  for  him" 
(Ps.  49:  7).  "The  Lord  renderest  to  every  man  accord- 
ing to  his  works"  (Ps.  62:12;  i  Kings  3:6;  Prov. 
24: 12;  Job  34:  n).  The  righteousness  of  Noah,  and 
of  Job,  and  of  Daniel  is  only  sufficient  to  deliver  their 
own  souls  (Ezek.  14:  14). 

We  now  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  Tabernacle 
which  was  erected  by  Moses  in  the  wilderness.  The 
tabernacle  was  evidently  erected  for  the  express 
purpose  of  describing  and  illustrating  human  nature. 
Moses  was  the  first  to  place  before  his  people  a  con- 
crete representation  of  the  nature  of  the  human  soul. 
The  order  revealed  in  the  building  of  the  tabernacle, 
its  cleanliness  and  sacredness,  and  the  care  taken  of  it 
were  intended  to  teach  what  the  human  soul  should 
resemble,  and  how  it  should  be  regarded.  If  the 
tabernacle  erected  by  Moses  was  approximately  a 
correct  representation  of  human  nature,  then  it  stands 
to  reason,  that  no  edifice  ever  erected  by  anybody 
at  any  time  taught  and  illustrated  so  much. 

In  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Exodus  occurs  this 
significant  language:  "And  the  Lord  spake  unto 
Moses  saying,  And  let  them  make  me  a  sanctuary  that 
I  may  dwell  among  them  according  to  all  that  I  show 
tnee,  after  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the  pat- 
tern of  all  the  instruments  thereof,  even  so  shall  ye 
make  it."  The  tabernacle,  and  "the  instruments 


256  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

thereof"  were  descriptive  of  the  nature  of  the  human 
soul  itself.  "The  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal; 
but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal."  Religion 
deals  with  the  unseen,  the  eternal;  therefore,  the 
necessity  of  using  visible  things,  symbols  to  illustrate 
and  explain  religious  principles.  The  tabernacle  and 
the  "instruments  thereof"  represented  the  unseen, 
the  soul  and  the  things  of  the  human  soul.  Philo, 
when  speaking  of  the  tabernacle,  said:  "Let  us  look 
on  the  altar  and  the  tabernacle  as  ideas  .  .  .  the  taber- 
nacle and  all  the  things  therein  are  to  be  considered 
as  invisible.  God  has  fixed  the  punishment  of  death 
to  any  one  who  touches  the  sacred  things  of  the 
tabernacle." 

The  putting  off  of  the  physical  body  is  only  a  seem- 
ing death ;  death,  in  fact,  only  comes  to  the  human  soul, 
the  tabernacle  of  God,  as  the  result  of  its  desecration. 
"If  any  man  defile  the  temple  of  God,  him  shall  God 
destroy"  (i  Cor.  3 :  17).  There  are  many  ways  to  defile 
the  tabernacle  of  God.  Man,  manas,  reason,  the 
governing  principle  of  the  soul,  may  abandon  its  holy 
function;  and  suffer  the  soul  to  be  desecrated;  the 
affections  of  the  heart  may  be  debauched;  and  the 
procreative  power,  the  most  imperious  of  all,  if  not 
restrained,  may  lead  the  soul  into  prostitution.  Every 
Israelite  was  commanded  to  make  God  a  sanctu- 
ary, a  fit  dwelling  wherein  the  Holy  Spirit  might 
dwell  "after  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the  pat- 
tern of  all  the  instruments  thereof."  In  a  word,  every 
Israelite  was  to  make  his  own  soul  perfect;  and  that 
his  soul  might  be  the  fit  dwelling  place  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  a  pattern  was  placed  before  him.  While  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  expressly  inhibit  the  representation 
of  the  Lord  God  in  any  material  form,  they  do  place 


Moses  257 

before  us  a  marvelous  variety  of  symbols  to  explain 
the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  mode  and 
manner  of  its  evolution  from  a  state  of  animalism  to  a 
state  of  humanism.  The  Hebrew  Scriptures  proceed 
on  the  idea  that  to  perfect  the  soul,  to  build  character, 
requires  a  plan  no  less  than  to  build  a  house. 

Since  the  tabernacle  and  the  instruments  thereof  are 
descriptive  of  the  human  soul,  it  follows  that] whatever 
is  said  of  them  is  said  of  the  soul.  The  tabernacle  is 
called  "the  tabernacle  of  testimony"  (Ex.  38:21; 
Num.  1 :  50,  53).  If  man  would  know  the  deep  truths 
of  human  nature,  and  would  apprehend  God,  let  him 
make  his  own  soul  just  and  upright  before  God ;  for  it  is 
"the  tabernacle  of  testimony."  Reason  must  assume 
its  rightful  authority;  it  must  make  itself  a  scourge 
of  cords,  and  it  must  drive  out  of  the  tabernacle  envy, 
hate,  malice,  revenge,  lust,  greed,  hypocrisy,  intolerance, 
and  murder;  in  a  word,  the  whole  horde  of  animal 
propensities  must  be  driven  out  of  the  tabernacle  if 
man  would  be  man.  John  Locke,  in  his  essay  on  the 
Human  Understanding,  evidently  uttered  a  truth  when 
he  said:  "We  may  as  rationally  hope  to  see  with 
other  men's  eyes,  as  to  know  by  other  men's  under- 
standing." 

An  Israelite  is  one  who  acts  in  obedience  to  con- 
science and  reason;  and  the  message  of  the  tabernacle 
to  every  Israelite  was:  "Take  heed  to  thyself,  and 
keep  thy  soul  diligently,  lest  thou  forget  the  things 
which  thine  eyes  have  seen"  (Deut.  4:9).  The  ark 
that  rests  within  the  Holy  of  Holies  represents  the 
human  heart,  the  life  center  of  the  individual.  "Keep 
thy  heart  with  all  diligence;  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues 
of  life"  (Prov.  4:23).  "My  dwelling  shall  be  with 
them  [in  their  souls];  and  I  will  be  their  God"  (Ex. 


258  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

29:45).  "If  our  earthly  tabernacle  be  dissolved,  we 
have  a  tabernacle  builded  of  God,  an  house  not  made 
with  hands"  (2  Cor.  5:1).  It  is  the  desire  of  God  to 
dwell  in  the  tabernacle  of  man.  "The  Lord  hath 
desired  Zion  for  his  habitation,  here  will  I  dwell;  for 
I  have  desired  it"  (Ps.  132:  13,  14). 

The  court  of  the  tabernacle  was  a  rectangular  en- 
closure one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length  and  seventy- 
five  feet  in  breadth;  and  the  length  of  this  structure 
was  from  east  to  west.  It  fronted  the  east ;  the  entrance, 
"the  door,"  was  at  the  east  end  (Ex.  29:4).  Within 
and  not  far  from  the  entrance  at  the  east  end  was  the 
altar.  "An  altar  shalt  thou  make  unto  me,  and  shall 
sacrifice  thereon  thy  offerings"  (Ex.  20:24).  The 
dwelling  was  west  of  the  altar;  it  consisted  of  two 
apartments;  first  the  Holy  Place,  and  immediately 
in  the  rear  and  to  the  west  of  this  was  the  Holy  of 
Holies.  The  outer  court  of  the  tabernacle,  we  are 
satisfied,  represents  the  human  body,  the  altar  the  lower 
principle  of  the  soul;  the  Holy  of  Holies,  the  heart, 
the  seat  of  life;  and  the  Holy  Place,  the  seat  of  the 
human  mind. 

The  altar  within  the  court  of  the  tabernacle,  and 
westward  from  the  entrance,  was  covered  with  plates 
of  brass.  "Thou  shalt  overlay  it  with  brass"  (Ex. 
27 :  1-4) ;  and  the  utensils  used  about  the  altar  were 
made  of  brass  (Ex.  27:3).  At  the  altar  the  animals 
were  sacrificed;  it  was  there  that  their  blood  was 
poured  out.  "For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  the  blood, 
and  I  gave  it  unto  you  to  make  an  atonement  for  your 
souls  upon  the  altar"  (Lev.  17:11).  The  altar 
corresponds  to  the  lower  principle  of  the  human  soul, 
the  seat  of  the  animal  propensities.  The  Scriptures 
teach  that  the  vestiges  of  animalism  inhering  in  the 


Moses  259 

soul  of  man,  and  symbolized  by  the  flesh  and  blood  of 
animals,  must  be  sacrificed  would  man  attain  to  his 
true  inheritance.  "But  these  mine  enemies,  which 
would  not  that  I  should  reign  over  them,  bring  hither, 
and  slay  them  before  me"  (Luke  19:27).  Every 
animal  sacrificed  at  the  altar  of  the  tabernacle  suggested 
an  Heaven-imposed  duty,  to  wit:  the  driving  of  the 
animals  and  the  money-changers  out  of  the  temple. 

In  the  book  of  Daniel,  we  read  of  an  image  of  which 
the  King  of  Babylon  dreamed;  "This  image's  head  was 
of  fine  gold,  his  breast  and  arms  of  silver,  and  his  belly 
and  thighs  of  brass,  and  his  legs  and  feet  of  iron  and 
clay"  (Dan.  2 :  32).  The  prophet  Daniel  interprets  this 
dream;  he  tells  the  King  that  this  image  represents  four 
kingdoms  comparable  to  gold,  silver,  brass,  and  iron. 
It  is  therefore  apparent  that  states  of  mind,  of  con- 
science, and  of  government,  are  symbolized  by  metals. 
"For  brass  I  will  bring  gold,  and  for  iron  I  will  bring 
silver"  (Isa.  60:  17).  The  metals  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  tabernacle,  and  its  utensils  and  fur- 
nishings, were  used  in  the  following  order:  the  things 
made  of  brass  represented  the  lowest  within  the  soul; 
silver  and  gold,  things  intermediary;  and  pure  beaten 
gold,  things  inward,  highest,  and  most  sacred.  The 
perfection  of  the  soul  consists  in  the  unity  and  harmony 
of  its  constituent  principles;  therefore,  the  very  great 
care  exercised  in  the  building  of  the  tabernacle. 

"The  altar  shall  be  foursquare,  and  the  height 
thereof  shall  be  three  cubits.  And  thou  shalt  make 
horns  upon  the  four  corners  thereof"  (Ex.  27: 1,  2). 
If  man  would  attain  to  perfection,  the  lower  principle 
of  the  soul  must  be  made  perfect ;  it  must  act  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  higher  principles  of  the  soul;  it  must  be 
the  willing  servant  of  a  just  mind,  and  of  a  virtuous 


260  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

heart.  In  the  language  of  symbolism,  it  should  be 
"foursquare, "  and  consonant  with  the  number  "three." 
The  word  "foursquare"  indicates  regularity,  order, 
harmony;  as  the  word  "three"  indicates  perfection. 
There  were  horns  upon  the  four  corners  of  the  altar; 
horns  are  a  symbol  of  virility  and  power.  They  grow 
largest  upon  the  heads  of  certain  strong,  vigorous  male 
animals.  The  horns  upon  the  altar  suggest  that 
power  and  virtue  are  born  of  sacrifice. 

The  Holy  Place  in  the  tabernacle  represented  the 
seat  of  the  mind  in  the  human  soul;  in  this  beautiful 
place  was  a  candlestick  of  pure  gold  with  seven  branches; 
and  on  the  branches  were  seven  lamps  (Ex.  25:  31-37). 
The  lamps  were  fed  with  pure  olive  oil.  The  light  of  the 
seven  lamps  is  a  fit  figure  of  mental  perfection ;  and  the 
olive  oil  is  a  symbol  teaching  that  the  mind  is  fed  from 
a  spiritual  source.  In  the  fourth  chapter  of  Zechariah, 
is  the  story  of  the  vision  of  Zerubbabel;  he  was  con- 
fronted with  a  mountain  of  hinderance;  he  was  in 
mental  anguish;  and  it  is  written  that  he  beheld  in  a 
vision  a  candlestick  of  gold  with  seven  branches  sup- 
porting seven  lamps  fed  with  the  golden  oil  of  two  olive 
trees.  By  this  vision,  Zerubbabel  was  taught  that 
mentality  was  not  sustained  "by  might,  nor  by  worldly 
power,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  God"  (Zech.  4:6).  "For 
by  strength  [by  worldly  power]  shall  no  man  prevail" 
(i  Sam  2:  9). 

In  the  Holy  Place  were  two  tables  covered  with 
plates  of  gold.  Upon  one  of  these  tables  were  twelve 
loaves  of  shew  bread.  This  was  a  fit  symbol  of  God's 
providence.  Bread  is  a  symbol  of  God's  word,  of  the 
truth  which  is  ever  before  us.  Twelve  is  a  universal 
number;  it  suggests  holiness,  completeness.  The 
bread  of  God  is  inexhaustible;  and  it  is  the  command 


Moses  261 

of  Heaven  that  man  feed  upon  it.  The  other  golden 
table  in  the  Holy  Place  was  called  the  altar  of  incense. 
Incense  was  burned  on  this  altar  morning  and  evening; 
and  the  odors  that  arose  from  this  table  are  a  symbol 
of  the  prayers  that  are  forever  ascending  out  of  the 
souls  of  the  just  to  the  ever-living  God,  the  source 
of  Life,  and  of  Mentality,  and  of  Love,  Justice,  and 
Righteousness.  "I  am  the  Lord  that  do  work  Love, 
Justice,  and  Righteousness:  for  in  these  things  I  delight, 
saith  the  Lord"  (Jer.  9:  24). 

Immediately  back  of  the  Holy  Place  was  the  Holy  of 
Holies.  This  was  the  secluded  and  awe-inspiring,  and 
sacred  above  all,  as  its  name  implies. 

O  blest  seclusion  from  a  jarring  world. 

COWPER. 

The  Holy  of  Holies  was,  as  we  believe,  a  symbol  of 
the  life  center  of  the  human  soul.  Over  the  entrance 
from  the  Holy  Place  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  was  a  veil 
of  exquisite  workmanship.  "And  thou  shalt  make  a 
veil  of  blue,  and  purple,  and  scarlet,  and  fine  twined 
linen  of  cunning  work:  with  cherubims  shall  it  be  made: 
and  thou  shalt  hang  it  upon  four  pillars  of  shittim  wood 
overlaid  with  gold:  their  hooks  shall  be  of  gold,  upon 
the  four  sockets  of  silver"  (Ex.  26:  31,  32). 

Behind  this  veil  that  divided  the  Holy  Place  from 
the  Most  Holy  was  "the  ark  of  the  testimony"  (Ex. 
26:33).  The  ark  is  the  symbol  of  the  human  heart; 
and  over  the  ark  was  the  mercy  seat  which  was  made 
of  gold;  and  upon  this  seat  were  mounted  two  angelic 
figures,  called  the  cherubims.  The  Scriptures  tell  us 
that  the  Shekinah,  the  Divine  Presence,  is  over  the 
mercy  seat  (Lev.  16:2;  Num.  7:89).  This  is  not  an 


262  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

intimation  of  the  localization  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  but  it 
is,  as  we  believe,  the  most  certain  and  specific  figure  in 
the  literature  of  the  world  to  show  the  relation  of  the 
Divine  Presence  to  life  and  mentality  within  the 
human  soul. 

This  teaches  that  every  life  is  sustained  by  the  One 
Life  that  is;  that  "none  can  keep  alive  his  own  soul" 
(Ps.  22:29).  It  teaches  the  unity  of  life,  the  Father- 
hood of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  Contem- 
plate the  thought :  over  every  human  heart,  over  every 
form  of  life,  is  the  sustaining  and  ever-living  Divine 
Presence.  The  recognition  of  and  belief  in  this  divine 
and  holy  relation  is  the  very  essence  of  religion.  Who 
are  "the  living,"  and  who  are  "the  dead,"  according 
to  the  Scriptures?  "The  living"  are  those  who 
believe  in  the  Divine  Presence,  and  abide  in  wisdom; 
who  "live  in  God's  sight"  (Hosea  6:2);  and  "the  dead" 
are  those  who  live  the  carnal  life,  and  do  not  believe, 
and  who  rejoice  in  folly.  "He  stood  between  the  dead 
and  the  living,  and  the  pestilence  was  stayed"  (Num. 
16:48).  God  is  the  God  of  "the  living,"  of  the 
resurrected  (Matt.  22:31,  32).  "Ye  that  did  cleave 
unto  the  Lord  your  God  are  alive  every  one  of  you  this 
day"  (Deut.  4:4).  "Cleave  unto  Him;  for  He  is 
thy  life"  (Deut.  30:  20).  The  carnally  minded  are  said 
to  be  dead  because  they  are  unmindful,  disregardful, 
and  unbelieving  as  to  their  relation  to  and  dependence 
upon  the  source  of  life. 

Emerson  in  1833,  when  he  had  returned  from  Europe, 
said: 

I  find  this  amazing  revelation  of  my  immediate  relation 
to  God,  a  solution  of  all  the  doubts  that  oppressed  me. 
I  recognize  the  distinction  of  the  outer  and  inner  self;  the 


Moses  263 

double  consciousness,  that  within  this  erring,  passionate, 
mortal  self,  sits  a  supreme,  calm,  immortal  mind,  whose 
powers  I  do  not  know,  but  it  is  stronger  than  I;  it  is  wiser 
than  I;  it  never  approves  me  in  any  wrong;  I  seek  counsel  of 
it  in  my  doubts;  I  repair  to  it  in  my  dangers;  I  pray  to  it 
in  my  undertakings.  It  seems  to  me  the  face  which  the 
Creator  uncovers  to  His  children.  It  is  the  perception  of 
this  depth  in  human  nature,  this  infinitude  belonging  to 
every  man  that  has  been  born,  which  has  given  new  value 
to  the  habits  of  reflection  and  solitude. 

It  is  good  to  know  that  there  are  chaste  and  virtuous 
souls  who  prefer  solitude,  to  the  sensuous  clamor  of 
the  world,  and  who  by  high  and  holy  living  and  think- 
ing have  come  to  perceive  that  God  is  present  in  the 
tabernacle  of  man. 

The  godlike  in  man  is  revealed  in  his  voice,  in  his 
words,  in  his  acts,  and  in  his  presence.  The  benign, 
the  pure  in  heart  are  preceded  by  their  virtue.  "Thy 
righteousness  shall  go  before  thee"  (Isa.  58:8).  "If 
a  man  be  good,  his  righteousness  shall  go  before  him; 
if  wicked,  the  reward  of  his  wickedness  shall  follow 
him"  (Barnabas  3:  14).  "There  went  virtue  out  of 
him,  and  healed  them  all"  (Luke  6:19).  And  thus 
the  power  and  glory  of  God  are  made  manifest  "at  the 
door  of  the  tabernacle"  (Ex.  33:9).  Emerson,  when 
speaking  of  his  faithful  friend,  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  said: 
"  Mr.  Alcott  was  the  great  man.  ...  He  has  more  of  the 
godlike  than  any  man  I  have  ever  seen,  and  his  presence 
rebukes  and  threatens  and  raises.  He  is  a  teacher." 
"It  is  impossible  to  form,"  said  Francis  Power  Cobbe, 
"the  faintest  estimate  of  the  good — the  highest  kind  of 
good —  which  a  single  devout  soul  may  accomplish  in  a 
lifetime  by  spreading  the  holy  contagion  of  the  love 
of  God  in  ever- widening  circles  around  it."  "The  most 


264  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

lamentable  scepticism  on  earth,  and  incomparably 
the  most  common,  is  a  scepticism  as  to  the  great- 
ness, powers,  and  high  destinies  of  human  nature." 
Again,  we  quote  the  words  of  the  chaste  and  godlike 
Channing. 

Gold  and  silver  were  extensively  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  Holy  Place  and  the  Most  Holy;  and  in 
the  making  of  the  things  that  constituted  their  furnish- 
ings. Gold  was  also  used  in  making  "the  holy  gar- 
ments for  Aaron."  "And  they  did  beat  the  gold  into 
thin  plates,  and  cut  it  into  wires,  to  work  it  in  the 
blue,  and  in  the  purple,  and  in  the  scarlet,  and  in 
the  fine  linen,  with  cunning  work"  (Ex.  39:  1-5). 
The  breastplate  of  the  High  Priest  was  made  of  gold, 
of  blue,  of  purple,  and  of  scarlet,  and  of  fine  twined 
linen,  and  in  the  same  were  set  twelve  varieties  of 
precious  stones,  which  scintillated  their  imprisoned 
light.  According  to  Plato,,  bells  are  a  symbol  of  the 
divine  harmony  and  order;  and  it  may  be  that  the 
bells  of  gold  on  the  garment  of  the  High  Priest  were 
a  symbol  of  the  divine  harmony  within  the  soul  of  man 
(Ex.  28:31-35). 

The  precious  metals,  and  the  objects  into  which  they 
were  fashioned,  and  their  colors,  and  the  colors  of 
the  precious  stones,  were  symbolic,  as  were  all  things 
connected  with  the  tabernacle.  Pure  gold,  it  would 
seem,  is  the  symbol  of  divine  love,  as  silver  is  of  divine 
wisdom.  "  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  tried  in  the 
fire,  that  thou  mayst  be  rich;  and  white  raiment,  that 
thou  mayst  be  clothed"  (Rev.  3 :  1 1) ;  and  thus  it  is  that 
man  is  told  to  cultivate  a  love  of  God,  and  a  love  of 
wisdom;  and  to  "put  on  righteousness  as  a  breast- 
plate" (Isa.  59:  17).  The  color  of  the  metals:  yellow 
and  white;  and  the  colors  of  the  veil  that  obscured  the 


Moses  265 

Most  Holy  Place:  blue,  purple,  and  scarlet,  are  suggestive 
of  repose,  tranquillity,  and  peace.  They  speak  more 
truly  than  words.  They  bespeak  cleanliness  and 
purity.  The  sign  of  God's  everlasting  covenant  is 
revealed  in  the  colors  of  the  rainbow  (Gen.  9:11-17). 

When  the  pure  white,  silvery  ray  of  light,  so  sugges- 
tive of  wisdom  and  purity,  is  separated  into  the  seven 
principal  colors  of  the  rainbow,  we  have:  violet,  indigo, 
blue,  green,  yellow,  orange,  and  red.  Blue,  the  color 
of  the  sky,  so  restful  to  look  upon  and  so  suggestive 
of  eternity,  is  said  to  bespeak  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.  In  a  book  of  much  merit  written  by  Edmund 
Hamilton  Sears,  entitled:  The  Fourth  Gospel,  is  this 
observation:  "Truth,  as  seen  by  the  pure  intellect, 
is  white  and  silvery;  but  truth  transfused  and  made 
chromatic  with  the  divine  love  is  golden;  and  when 
it  rules  right  royally  over  the  conscience  and  the  life, 
it  crowns  us,  and  we  wear  it  as  a  diadem  of  praise." 

According  to  the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
ark,  in  its  interior  meaning,  represents  the  human  heart. 
In  Genesis,  we  read,  that  Noah's  "ark  went  upon  the 
face  of  the  waters"  (Gen.  7:18).  The  water  that  over- 
flows the  earth  and  destroys  all  flesh,  all  animal  life, 
is  but  another  name  for  carnal  mind;  carnal  mind  is 
animalized  mind;  it  is  mind  on  the  plane  of  the  carnal 
appetites.  Noah's  "ark  went  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters."  This  ark  breasted  the  deluge  for  forty  days 
and  forty  nights  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,  but 
finally  it  rested  upon  a  mountain.  "And  the  ark 
rested  in  the  seventh  month  .  .  .  upon  the  mountain  of 
Ararat."  Again,  we  read  of  the  ark  on  the  face  of  the 
waters  of  the  river  Nile;  this  ark  contains  the  infant 
Moses ;  it  contains  him  who  was  drawn  out  of  the  water, 
and  was  destined  to  proclaim  to  the  world  the  Law  of 


266  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Human  Life  that  inheres  in  the  soul  of  man.  This 
Law  is  discovered  when  the  ark  is  at  rest  on  the  moun- 
tain, "in  the -seventh  month." 

"  Remember  ye  the  law  of  my  servant  Moses,  which  I 
commanded  unto  him  in  Horeb."  This  Law  takes 
precedence  of  all  other  law;  and  it  is  as  much  above  the 
laws  of  the  world,  as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth. 
"Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  Law,  or  the 
prophets:  I  am  come  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil. 
For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass, 
one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law, 
till  all  be  fulfilled"  (Matt.  5:  17,  18).  Every  rational 
being  who  would  attain  to  rest  and  peace  must  be 
faithful  to  the  Law  "till  all  be  fulfilled." 

The  dove  is  the  symbol  of  the  Divine  Word ;  the  dove 
was  in  Noah's  ark;  the  dove  descended  upon  Abraham 
(Gen.  15:9);  and  again,  we  read,  that  the  Law,  the 
Word  of  God  is  in  the  ark  in  the  Most  Holy  Place. 
Here  is  the  ark  at  rest  in  the  presence  of  God:  "My 
presence  shall  go  with  thee,  and  I  will  give  thee  rest" 
(Ex.  33: 14);  here  is  the  ark  guarded  by  the  winged 
cherubims,  the  holy  messengers  of  God;  they  are  sym- 
bols of  wisdom  and  truth  and  of  God's  eternal  and 
unfailing  justice.  God  is  merciful,  for  He  is  above  the 
mercy  seat ;  but  above  all,  He  is  just.  The  mercy  seat 
is  the  seat  of  justice  within  the  soul.  "The  tabernacle 
of  God  is  with  men,  and  He  will  dwell  with  them,  and 
they  shall  be  His  people,  and  God  Himself  shall  be 
with  them,  and  be  their  God"  (Rev.  21:3).  God  has 
appointed  the  meeting-place  between  Himself  and  the 
individual  man.  "There,"  says  the  Almighty,  "above 
the  mercy  seat, "  "will  I  meet  thee,  and  I  will  commune 
with  thee"  (Ex.  25:22).  Let  man  attune  his  soul  to 
perfection,  if  he  would  commune  with  his  God;  let 


Moses  267 

him  make  God  a  holy  tabernacle.  This  is  what  Paul 
calls  a  "reasonable  service"  (Rom.  12:  i). 

If  man  would  be  conscious  of  the  Divine  Presence, 
he  must  prepare  for  God  a  chaste  and  holy  taberna- 
cle after  the  pattern  shown  Moses  on  the  mount,  and 
builded  by  the  inspired  artisan  Bezaleel.  When  man 
sets  about  in  right  earnest  to  make  his  soul  upright, 
he  will  be  aided  in  building  as  was  Bezaleel ;  the  Holy 
Spirit  will  not  only  aid  him  to  build,  but  it  will  fill  his 
heart  with  wisdom  "  that  he  may  teach  "  (Ex.  35 :  30-35). 
The  Lord  calls  His  own  by  name  (Ex.  35 :  30) ;  and  the 
names  which  He  gives  them  correspond  with  their 
real  character.  Bezaleel  was  the  name  of  him  who 
stood  in  the  Divine  Presence.  We  are  told  of  the 
cleanliness,  the  chasteness,  and  the  perfection  of  all 
materials  used  in  the  building  of  the  tabernacle ;  and 
of  the  very  great  care  that  was  exercised  to  the  end 
that  the  tabernacle  be  builded  in  every  respect  "after 
the  pattern  shown  Moses  on  the  mount";  and  of  the 
great  precaution  that  was  taken  that  the  tabernacle 
be  in  no  way  profaned  or  desecrated. 

Let  us  contemplate  the  names  of  what  we  may  call 
the  essential  parts  of  the  tabernacle,  those  parts  which 
represent  the  principles  of  the  human  soul :  the  altar  of 
sacrifice,  the  Holy  Place,  and  the  Most  Holy  Place. 
These  names  are  full  of  significance.  It  is  certainly 
apparent  that  the  tabernacle  was  intended  to  teach  and 
did  teach  the  deep  truths  of  human  nature;  and  more- 
over, it  would  be  impossible  to  conceive  a  more  effective 
and  impressive  method  of  placing  before  the  mind's 
eye  the  soul's  perfection.  The  prophet  is  he  upon 
whom  the  dove  has  descended ;  the  dove  is  the  symbol 
of  the  Divine  Word;  and  the  Divine  Word  is  the  truth 
without  any  alloy  of  error.  "To  this  end  was  I  born, 


268  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

and  for  this  reason  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should 
bear  witness  unto  the  truth."  This  is  the  office  of  the 
prophet. 

Moses  was  a  prophet  sent  of  God  to  teach  the  children 
of  Israel  the  way  of  salvation;  and  that  they  might 
appreciate  the  marvelous  possibilities  of  the  human 
soul,  and  its  worth  and  sacredness,  the  tabernacle, 
clean,  chaste,  perfect,  and  holy,  was  placed  before  them. 
Religion  is  not  a  matter  of  speculation;  it  has  its  law, 
and  this  law  was  marvelously  illustrated  in  the  sym- 
bolism of  the  tabernacle.  Let  man  abandon  specula- 
tion about  God  and  immortality,  and  live  the  life 
prescribed  by  the  Law,  as  did  Abraham,  Joseph, 
Moses,  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Jesus.  It  should  be  re- 
membered that  Socrates  and  Plato  and  those  of  their 
school  sought  to  reclaim  philosophy  from  dogmatism 
and  speculation;  and  to  teach  mankind  that  all  higher 
knowledge  comes  as  the  result  of  virtue.  "God  is  no 
respecter  of  persons.  But  in  every  nation  he  that 
feareth  him,  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  acceptable ' ' 
(Acts  10:35).  All  wn°  abandon  the  sensuous  life, 
all  who  live  clean  and  virtuous  lives  are  the  inheritance 
of  God.  "They  are  thy  people,  thine  inheritance" 
(Deut.  9 : 29) ;  and  the  just  inherit  God,  for  they  are 
"partakers  of  the  divine  nature"  (2  Peter  1:4). 

The  animal  sacrifices  which  were  made  at  the  altar 
were  notorious.  They  taught  unequivocally,  that 
man,  would  he  be  a  man,  must  overcome  his  animal 
nature.  This  is  an  animal  world.  "My  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world."  The  Scriptures  teach  that  all  evil 
originates  on  the  plane  of  the  lower  principle  of  the 
human  soul ;  and  it  is  in  this  principle  that  the  irrational 
vestiges  of  animalism  inhere.  "Those  mine  enemies, 
which  would  not  that  I  should  reign  over  them,  bring 


Moses  269 

hither  and  slay  them  before  me"  (Luke  19:27).  Let 
man  awe  the  beast  and  cultivate  the  human  as  Emerson 
has  said.  Let  him  pray  God  for  help  that  he  may  lash 
these  incorrigible  enemies  to  the  horns  of  the  altar 
that  they  may  be  sacrificed.  Nothing  which  is  animal, 
nor  which  savors  of  the  animal  can  approach  the  Divine 
Presence.  The  priests  when  they  entered  into  the  inner 
court  of  the  tabernacle  were  to  be  clothed  in  linen 
garments;  and  they  were  to  wear  no  materials  made 
from  an  animal  that  dies;  "and  no  wool  shall  come  upon 
them"  (Ezek.  44:  17).  Aaron  and  his  sons  were  to  be 
free  from  the  taint  of  animalism,  "That  they  bear 
not  iniquity,  and  die;  and  it  shall  be  a  statute  forever 
unto  Aaron  and  his  seed  after  him"  (Ex.  28:  42,  43). 

The  goat,  like  the  serpent,  is  a  symbol  that  represents 
the  lower  principle  of  the  soul  of  man.  In  the  sixteenth 
chapter  of  Leviticus,  we  read  of  the  great  day  of  expia- 
tion which  occurred  but  once  a  year;  and  how  "all 
the  iniquities  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  all  their 
transgressions  in  all  their  sins"  were  put  upon  the 
head  of  the  scapegoat  that  went  forth  into  the  wilder- 
ness (Lev.  16:21,  22).  The  High  Priest  is  the  re- 
presentative of  all  men,  the  Law  of  Human  Life  is 
taught  in  his  ministrations  and  in  his  life;  his  life 
points  the  way  of  salvation;  and  every  one  who  would 
attain  to  eternal  peace  and  rest  must  suffer  and  make 
the  whole  sacrifice.  All  human  souls,  in  their  essential 
nature,  are  alike;  and  every  soul  that  would  attain 
to  its  celestial  inheritance  must  be  made  perfect  by 
suffering. 

Every  son  of  God  is  destined  to  perform  holy  and 
disinterested  service  as  did  the  High  Priest  who  car- 
ried a  breastplate,  suspended  from  his  shoulders  and 
which  rested  on  his  heart,  on  which  was  written  the 


270  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

names  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  "And  Aaron 
shall  bear  the  judgment  of  the  children  of  Israel  upon 
his  heart  before  the  Lord  continually"  (Ex.  28:30). 
This  symbol  would  teach  us  that  the  great  religious 
teacher  must  carry  the  people  in  his  heart.  He  who 
would  perform  a  great  moral  service  for  mankind  must 
needs  love  the  people.  "We  have  an  high  priest  whose 
feelings  are  touched  by  our  infirmities"  (Heb.  4:  15). 
"O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem  .  .  .  how  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together,  as  a  hen  doth  gather 
her  brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not "  (Luke 

I3:34)' 

While  the  animal  sacrifices  were  symbolic,  and  were 
intended  to  teach  deep  truths  concerning  human  nature 
and  the  way  of  salvation,  it  is  apparent  that  actual 
sacrifices  were  made  after  the  manner  narrated  in  the 
book  of  Leviticus.  The  sacrifices  were  made  to  illus- 
trate principles,  and  to  restrain  and  deter  evildoers. 
The  offspring  of  the  delinquent,  and  the  priestly  func- 
tion, were  singularly  conducive  to  the  exposure  of  sin, 
and  the  reformation  of  the  sinner.  The  precepts  gov- 
erning the  sacrifices  directed  that  a  certain  kind  of  offer- 
ing should  be  made  for  each  specific  sin  or  trespass.  The 
man  or  the  woman  who  was  guilty  of  wrongdoing  was 
thus  taught  to  make  reparation  if  it  were  possible,  and 
in  any  event  to  confess  openly  the  wrong. 

The  first  requisite  to  the  atonement  of  sin  is  repara- 
tion ;  and  next  to  this  is  a  penitent  and  candid  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  wrong.  "First  be  reconciled  to  thy 
brother,  and  then  come  and  offer  thy  gift"  (Matt. 
5:23,  24).  "He  that  covereth  his  sins  shall  not 
prosper;  but  whoso  confesseth  and  forsaketh  them  shall 
have  mercy"  (Prov.  28:  13).  In  a  word,  the  offering 
which  was  brought  by  the  delinquent,  and  the  official 


Moses  271 

service  which  was  performed  by  the  priest,  told  the 
whole  story;  the  offering  was  a  prayer  for  forgiveness 
and  a  confession.  The  Law  and  the  precepts  that 
accompanied  it  are  addressed  alike  to  men  and  women. 

It  is  impossible  that  precepts,  commands,  and  inhibi- 
tions imposed  from  without  should  take  away  sin. 
"It  is  impossible  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats 
should  take  away  sin"  (Heb.  10:  4).  If  the  observance 
of  precepts,  or  the  sacrifice  of  bulls  does  not  take  away 
sins,  then  what  is  it  that  does?  It  is  repentance;  it  is 
the  turning  away  from  an  evil  life,  and  the  living  of  a 
life  of  virtue.  Moral  evil  is  the  transgression  of  a  Law 
whose  obligation  we  feel  within  us.  Sin  is  taken  away 
by  living  a  life  in  obedience  to  conscience  and  reason. 

"And  Ezra  the  priest  brought  the  Law  before  the 
congregation  both  men  and  women,  and  all  that  could 
hear  with  understanding,  upon  the  first  day  of  the 
seventh  month"  (Neh.  8:  2,  3;  Deut.  31:  n,  12). 
The  Word  of  God,  the  Law  of  Human  Life,  is  addressed 
to  the  intelligence  of  individual  men  and  women, 
"and  to  all  that  can  hear  with  understanding, "  without 
reference  to  sex,  caste,  race,  color,  or  nationality. 
Why  was  the  Law  brought  before  the  congregation 
"upon  the  first  day  of  the  seventh  month"?  The 
number  seven  indicates  perfection.  The  end  and  the 
aim  of  the  Law  is  the  perfection  of  man;  and  they  who 
live  worthy  of  the  Law  are  said  to  walk  with  God,  and 
to  find  rest  and  peace  on  the  seventh  day.  "When  a 
man  or  woman  shall  commit  any  sin  that  a  man  [a 
rational  being]  can  commit  .  .  .  against  the  Lord, 
and  that  person  be  guilty,  then  they  shall  confess  their 
sin, "  and  shall  make  reparation,  but  if  reparation  can- 
not be  made,  then  an  atonement  shall  be  made;  and 
the  symbol  is  the  ram  (Num.  5:  5-8). 


272  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Every  rational  being  who  knowingly  sins  offends 
"against  the  Lord";  Man,  mind,  is  put  into  the  human 
soul  "to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it, "  and  not  to  desecrate 
it ;  he  who  desecrated  the  tabernacle  was  punished  with 
death;  this  idea  is  intended  to  teach  and  does  teach 
that  the  only  death  that  can  come  to  the  soul  of  man  is 
the  result  of  evil ;  every  individual  man  or  woman  who 
knowingly  sins  acts  in  open  hostility  to  the  Law  of 
God;  for  all  is  of  God,  and  that  which  constitutes  man 
a  man  is  mentality.  Let  man  beware  lest  he  prostitute 
his  mind,  and  thus  desecrate  the  temple  of  the  living 
God;  for  "He  is  One  Mind"  (Job  23:  13).  "There  is 
one  Mind  common  to  all  individual  men,"  says  Emer- 
son in  his  essay  on  History. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  Scriptures  are  scientific,  and 
that  they  announce  principles  descriptive  of  the  nature 
of  the  human  soul,  and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its 
evolution,  and  if  it  be  true  that  men  and  women  are 
slowly  emerging  from  a  state  of  animalism,  then  it 
would  seem  that  there  is  no  other  method  of  escape 
from  sensuality,  than  that  revealed  in  the  life  and 
teachings  of  Moses,  and  Jesus,  and  other  great  prophets. 
Jesus  tells  us  in  language  clear  and  specific  that  the 
Law  and  its  precepts  are  imperative.  "  For  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one 
tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  Law,  till  all  be 
fulfilled.  Whosoever  therefore  shall  break  one  of  the 
least  of  these  commandments,  and  shall  teach  men  so, 
he  shall  be  called  the  least  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven" 
(Matt.  5: 1 8,  19). 

"Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other"  (Acts  4: 12) 
life  than  that  lived  by  Joseph,  and  Moses,  and  Jesus. 
The  Law  of  Human  Life  proclaimed  by  Moses,  and 
its  attendant  precepts,  fix  responsibility;  they  were 


Moses  273 

intended  to  work  reparation  for  injury  done,  and  to 
constrain  men  and  women  to  confess  their  wrongs. 
"When  he  shall  be  guilty  in  one  of  these  things,  he 
shall  confess  that  he  hath  sinned  in  that  thing:  and  he 
shall  bring  his  trespass  offering  unto  the  Lord  for  his 
sin  which  he  hath  sinned"  (Lev.  5:5,  6).  The  sacri- 
ficial offerings  were  symbols  fixing  individual  responsi- 
bility for  sin.  "Sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  Law" 
(i  John  3 14). 

The  Law  and  its  precepts  are  addressed  to  all  rational 
beings.  "One  law  shall  be  to  him  that  is  home  born, 
and  to  the  stranger  that  sojourneth  among  you"  (Ex. 
12:49).  "Mind  carries  the  Law,"  says  Emerson. 
Reason  is  the  governing,  directing,  and  measuring 
principle  within  the  human  soul;  truth  is  the  law  of 
reason.  Reason  is  a  mighty  Angel  sent  of  God;  and 
he  suffers  no  violation  of  the  divine  commands.  "Be- 
hold I  send  an  Angel  before  thee,  to  keep  thee  in  the 
way,  and  to  bring  thee  into  the  place  which  I  have 
prepared.  Beware  of  him,  and  obey  his  voice,  provoke 
him  not;  for  he  will  not  pardon  your  transgressions: 
for  My  Name  is  in  him"  (Ex.  23:20,  21).  Justice 
bespeaks  immortality.  "There  is  no  god, "  says  Emer- 
son, "that  dare  wrong  a  worm."  Moses,  Elijah,  Soc- 
rates, Plato,  Jesus,  and  all  the  great  prophets  and 
philosophers  have  taught  that  there  is  no  escape  from 
moral  responsibility;  that  every  rational  being  is  an- 
swerable to  God;  that  there  is  a  living  presence  that 
suffers  no  wrong  to  go  unredressed  and  no  virtue  un- 
rewarded. "The  Lord  God  of  Israel  liveth  before 
whom  I  stand"  (i  Kings  17:  i).  Religion  teaches  the 
accountability  of  man  to  the  One  Living  God  that  is. 
"Every  one  of  us  shall  give  an  account  of  himself  to 
God"  (Rom.  14: 12).  "Say  unto  the  righteous,  that 

18 


274  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

it  shall  be  well  with  him :  for  he  shall  eat  the  fruit  of  his 
doings.  Woe  unto  the  wicked !  it  shall  be  ill  with  him : 
for  the  reward  of  his  hands  shall  be  given  him"  (Isa. 
3:  10,  ii ;  Ezek.  18:20). 

Moses  is  said  to  have  given  to  the  world  the  Penta- 
teuch, or  the  first  five  books  of  the  Bible.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  the  cause  of  truth  to  show  that  Moses 
actually  wrote  the  Pentateuch.  It  is  enough  to  say 
that  this  great  prophet  organized  a  priesthood,  to  whom 
he  taught  many  precepts,  or  rules,  for  the  government 
of  man  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life.  He  taught  his 
people  that  if  they  would  become  a  people  of  real  moral 
worth,  they  must  separate  themselves  from  the  vulgar, 
the  sensual,  the  murderous,  and  the  warlike.  But 
these  rules  and  precepts  did  not  constitute  fundamental 
knowledge;  they  were  only  means  to  an  end.  They 
only  pointed  the  way  to  the  higher  knowledge.  Moses 
knew,  as  all  the  great  have  known,  that  there  is  a 
divine  order  which  inheres  within  the  human  soul 
itself.  This  divine  order  may  be  called  the  Law  of 
Human  Life,  the  Law  of  Righteousness;  the  way 
of  salvation.  Plato,  in  his  dialogue  Gorgias,  repeats 
the  words  of  Socrates.  "And  'lawful'  and  'law 'are 
the  names  which  are  given  to  the  regular  order  and 
action  of  the  soul,  and  these  make  men  lawful  and 
orderly:  and  so  we  have  temperance  and  justice." 

Moses  ordained  a  priesthood.  The  priests  were 
appointed  and  consecrated  to  teach.  They  were  the 
wise  men  of  Israel;  they  were  dedicated  to  a  work. 
They  were  not  only  the  teachers  of  outward  precepts 
and  rules,  but  they  were  taught  the  Law  of  Human  Life 
as  illustrated  by  the  tabernacle  itself.  The  deep 
truths  of  human  nature  were  taught  by  Moses  and  the 
priesthood,  and  the  succeeding  prophets;  and  even  by 


Moses  275 

the  ancient  poets  and  philosophers,  in  symbols  and  in 
allegories.  Symbols  are  more  easily  remembered  than 
descriptive  words;  and  they  forever  tell  the  same  story. 
Aaron  and  his  sons  were  consecrated  to  the  work  of 
teaching.  They  were  selected,  no  doubt,  on  account 
of  their  integrity  and  superior  knowledge;  and  were 
subjected  to  a  severe  moral  discipline.  They  were 
expected  to  make  their  souls  upright;  and  to  live 
what  they  taught. 

Among  the  virtuous  there  is  a  perfect  identity  between 
the  life  lived  and  the  things  taught.  The  true  teacher 
demonstrates  what  he  teaches  in  his  own  life.  Aaron 
and  his  sons  were  consecrated  to  reason,  and  to  the 
virtue  of  reason  which  is  wisdom.  This  truth  is  related 
in  a  symbol.  The  ram,  which  leads  the  flock,  is  the 
symbol  of  reason;  the  sign  Ares,  the  top  of  the  head,  is 
the  seat  of  reason.  "And  Moses  said  unto  Aaron  and 
his  sons,  boil  the  flesh  [of  the  ram  of  consecration] 
at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation;  and 
there  eat  it  with  the  bread  that  is  in  the  basket  of 
consecration,  as  I  commanded,  saying,  Aaron  and  his 
sons  shall  eat  it.  And  that  which  remaineth  of  the 
flesh  and  of  the  bread  shall  ye  burn  with  fire"  (Lev. 
8:31,  32).  When  describing  the  tabernacle,  we  had 
occasion  to  say  that  the  Holy  Place  represented  the 
human  mind;  the  Most  Holy  the  heart,  the  seat  of  life; 
and  that  the  sacrificial  altar  represented  the  lower 
principle  of  the  soul.  "And  they  shall  take  the  ram  of 
the  consecration,  and  seethe  his  flesh  in  the  Holy 
Place.  And  Aaron  and  his  sons  shall  eat  of  the  flesh  of 
the  ram,  and  of  the  bread  that  is  in  the  basket.  .  .  . 
And  they  shall  eat  those  things  wherewith  the  atone- 
ment was  made,  to  consecrate  and  to  sanctify  them, 
but  a  stranger  shall  not  eat  thereof,  because  they  are 


276  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

holy"  (Ex.  29:31-34).  None  but  those  who  live 
worthily  are  entitled  to  feed  upon  spiritual  things. 
The  vulgar,  the  conceited,  the  sensuous  are  not  pre- 
pared to  feed  upon  the  higher  knowledge, — "  a  stranger 
shall  not  eat  thereof."  This  is  a  way  of  saying,  "Give 
not  that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  neither  cast  ye 
your  pearls  before  swine,  lest  they  trample  them  under 
their  feet,  and  turn  again  and  rend  you"  (Matt.  7:6). 

Aaron  and  his  sons  were  to  feed  on  reason ;  they  were 
to  eat  of  the  flesh  of  the  ram  that  was  boiled  in  the 
Holy  Place;  and  they  were  to  feed  upon  truth,  the 
bread  of  life,  that  is  in  the  basket  of  consecration  in 
the  Holy  Place.  Aaron  and  his  sons  were  anointed,  and 
consecrated,  and  sanctified,  "that  they  may  minister 
unto  God  in  the  priest's  office";  and  their  priestly 
services  were  connected  with  the  tabernacle  (Ex.  28: 
41-43).  Human  nature  can  only  be  explained  by 
psychological  principles;  therefore,  man's  sanctification 
is  psychological.  Aaron  and  his  sons  were  dedicated 
to  a  work;  they  were  to  point  the  way  of  salvation, 
in  the  lives  which  they  lived,  and  the  truths  which 
they  taught.  They  were  removed  from  the  cares  of 
the  world;  they  were  denied  any  worldly  inheritance; 
God  is  their  inheritance  (Num.  18:20,  21;  Deut. 
10:9).  They  were  chosen  "to  stand  before  the  Lord 
to  minister  unto  Him,  and  to  bless  in  His  name" 
(Deut.  10:  8).  They  were  the  dispensers  of  the  bread 
of  life;  they  were  the  custodians  of  knowledge;  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  profound  truths 
taught  by  Moses  in  the  language  of  symbolism  were 
carried  for  centuries  in  the  minds  of  the  priesthood,  and 
were  not  wholly  written  until  the  days  of  Ezra,  about  the 
year  400  B.C. 

Moses,  who  was  a  marvelous  prophet  (Deut.  18  :  15; 


Moses  277 

Hosea  12:13),  was  also  a  priest  (Ps.  99:6).  The 
priests  were  teachers  and  conservators  of  knowledge. 
"The  priest's  lips  should  keep  knowledge,  and  the 
people  should  ask  the  Law  at  his  mouth,  because  he 
is  the  messenger  of  the  Lord  of  hosts"  (Mai.  2:7; 
Lev.  10:11;  Deut.  17:9;  Jer.  18:18;  Hag.  2:11). 
After  the  coming  of  Moses,  and  the  giving  of  the  Law, 
all  the  subsequent  Hebrew  prophets  stood  for  the  Law 
as  proclaimed  by  Moses,  and  unqualifiedly  condemned 
every  departure  from  its  strict  observance,  either  by 
the  people  of  Israel,  or  their  priests  (Neh.  1:7;  Isa. 
8:20;  Jer.  18: 18;  Ezek.  7:26;  Dan.  9:  n;  Amos  2:4; 
Hosea  8 :  I ;  Zeph.  3:4);  and  no  prophet  ever  more 
severely  condemned  the  teachers  and  priests  of  Israel 
for  failing  to  keep  the  Law  than  did  Jesus  (John  7: 19). 
Not  only  did  Jesus  condemn  every  departure  from  the 
Law,  but  he  stated  unqualifiedly  that  the  Law  of  Moses 
must  be  fulfilled  in  its  entirety  (Matt.  5:  17-19). 

"And  ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and 
an  holy  nation"  (Ex.  19:6;  I  Peter  2:5).  Every 
rational  being  should  strive  to  attain  to  the  priestly 
state  of  consciousness;  he  should  seek  to  be  a  teacher  in 
Israel  and  a  custodian  of  knowledge.  The  condition 
of  becoming  a  teacher  and  priest  in  Israel  is  founded 
upon  the  Law  of  Moses.  "For  Ezra  had  prepared  his 
heart  to  seek  the  Law  of  the  Lord,  and  to  do  it,  and  to 
teach  in  Israel  statutes  and  judgments"  (Ezra  7: 10). 
He  who  would  truly  teach  the  Law  must  first  have 
fulfilled  the  Law;  for  the  high  and  holy  nature  of  the 
Law  is  demonstrated  in  a  life  of  obedience  to  it, 
as  Jesus  himself  said  (Matt.  5:17,  19;  Luke  16:17). 
Rational  beings  should  not  only  strive  to  be  fit  teachers 
of  truth  and  virtue;  but  they  should  so  live  and  con- 
form to  the  Law  of  Human  Life  as  to  attain  to  their 


278  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

true  inheritance,  the  state  of  prophecy.  "And  Moses 
said  ...  I  would  to  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people 
were  prophets,  and  that  the  Lord  would  put  His  Spirit 
upon  them"  (Num.  11:29). 

"The  most  lamentable  scepticism  on  earth,  and 
incomparably  the  most  common,  is  the  scepticism  as 
to  the  greatness,  power,  and  high  destinies  of  human 
nature."  These  are  the  words  of  William  Ellery 
Channing,  when  discoursing  on  the  text:  "Christ  also 
suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an  example,  that  we  should 
follow  his  steps"  (i  Peter  2:21).  These  and  like 
words  we  have  quoted  often;  for  certainly  nothing  is  a 
greater  deterrent  to  human  progress  than  the  low  and 
vulgar  estimate  that  men  place  upon  themselves. 
Knowledge  of  the  truth  is  the  highest  attainment  of  a 
rational  being;  it  is  the  truth  that  sanctifies;  it  is  the 
truth  that  makes  clean;  "Now  ye  are  clean  through  the 
word  which  I  have  spoken  unto  you"  (John  15:3); 
the  truth  is  the  word  of  God  (John  17:  17).  They 
that  attain  to  greatness,  to  the  higher  life,  must  "suffer 
for  us";  they  who  stand  for  the  truth  in  this  animal 
world  must  needs  suffer  persecution;  they  who  live 
above  the  spirit  of  the  world  are  the  objects  of  the 
scorn  and  contempt  of  the  sensuous  and  carnal.  We 
owe  it  to  God,  our  Creator,  and  to  ourselves,  and  to 
mankind  to  live  clean,  virtuous  lives.  "And  for  their 
sakes  I  sanctify  myself"  (John  17:  19). 

Man,  would  he  be  a  man,  must  make  his  soul  as 
clean,  and  chaste,  and  holy,  as  was  the  tabernacle;  for 
it  is  written  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwells  in  the  taber- 
nacle of  man  behind  the  second  veil,  "which  is  called 
the  Holiest  of  all"  (Heb.  9:3).  Man,  would  he  attain 
to  greatness,  must  be  willing  to  labor  and  suffer  in  the 
cause  of  truth  and  justice.  This  lesson  was  taught 


Moses  279 

by  the  priesthood  of  Israel.  Their  services  were 
disinterested;  for  they  had  no  earthly  inheritance. 
"Thou  shalt  have  no  inheritance  in  the  land.  ...  I 
am  thy  part  and  thine  inheritance  among  the  children 
of  Israel"  (Num.  18:20;  Josh.  13:33).  The  ministra- 
tions of  the  priesthood  in  the  tabernacle  were  to  the 
end  that  the  souls  of  men  might  be  made  as  pure  and 
chaste  as  "fine  white  flour"  (Lev.  2:1).  It  is  the 
desire  of  God  to  dwell  in  the  soul  of  man.  "He  hath 
desired  it  for  His  habitation"  (Ps.  132: 13). 

The  great  of  Israel  have  always  made  religion  the 
first  consideration.  "Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of 
God  "  (Matt.  6 :  33) .  The  first  and  highest  duty  of  man 
is  to  relate  his  soul  to  the  spiritual  kingdom,  the  king- 
dom that  transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world. 
"My  kingdom  [and  your  kingdom]  is  not  of  this  world" 
(John  1 8 :  36).  "He  who  makes  religion  his  first  object, 
makes  it  his  whole  object:  he  has  no  other  work  in  the 
world  than  God's  work,"  says  John  Ruskin.  There 
is  a  legend  recorded  by  Luke  which  tends  to  prove 
the  strong  religious  bent  of  Jesus'  mind,  when  a  boy. 
"Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi- 
ness?" (Luke  2: 49).  "lam  the  Lord  that  do  work 
Love,  Justice,  and  Righteousness;  for  in  these  things 
I  delight,  saith  the  Lord"  (Jer.  9:24).  If  a  man 
does  not  make  justice  and  righteousness  the  first 
consideration  in  life,  then  it  is  certainly  apparent  that 
his  religion  is  perfunctory.  Religion  is  a  thing  to  be 
lived;  it  is  represented  in  a  life.  "I  am  the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life"  (John  14:6).  "Go  unto  Joseph; 
what  he  saith  unto  you,  do"  (Gen.  41 :  55). 

The  world  is  full  of  people  who  are  connected  with 
religious  institutions;  and  the  lives  that  a  large  portion 
of  them  live  is  proof  positive  that  they  have  no  concep- 


280  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

tion  of  the  duties  and  ideals  of  religion.  The  thing 
above  all  which  makes  religion  an  object  of  ridicule  and 
contempt  is  the  wide  and  noticeable  difference  between 
what  men  pretend  to  believe,  and  the  lives  that  they 
live.  This  causes  the  sceptic  and  the  agnostic  to  attack 
the  churches,  and  to  charge  that  they  shelter  bigots  and 
hypocrites;  and  this  gives  rise  to  the  counter  charge 
that  they  who  are  outside  of  the  churches  are  heretics, 
infidels,  and  atheists.  What  is  the  remedy?  When  it 
is  shown  that  the  soul  of  man  is  governed  by  a  high 
and  holy  Law,  and  that  this  Law  is  teachable  and 
demonstrable,  just  as  other  laws  of  nature  are  teachable 
and  demonstrable,  then  it  is  submitted  that  religion 
will  be  on  a  sure  and  eternal  foundation.  Jesus,  like 
Joesph,  and  Moses,  and  all  the  truly  great,  fulfilled 
the  Law.  The  teachings  of  Paul  prove  him  to  have 
been  an  adept  in  matters  of  religion,  and  that  he 
understood  the  operations  of  the  Law;  therefore,  his 
strong  and  unequivocal  language:  "If  any  man 
preach  any  other  gospel  unto  you  than  that  ye  have 
received,  let  him  be  accursed"  (Gal.  1:9). 

"It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
living  God;  for  you  can  call  to  remembrance  former 
days,  in  which,  after  ye  were  illumined,  ye  endured 
divers  afflictions"  (Heb.  10:  31,  32).  It  is  a  "fear- 
ful thing"  to  go  to  the  promised  land  by  the  way  of  the 
wilderness;  it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  undergo  the  discipline, 
the  chastening,  and  the  trials  that  are  necessary  to  the 
soul's  perfection.  Let  no  man  believe  that  he  can  go 
to  the  promised  land  except  by  the  way  of  the  desert; 
all  that  go  to  the  promised  land  must  experience  an 
illumination,  an  awakening  out  of  a  state  of  sensuality 
and  death,  and  must  be  obedient  to  the  Law  given  at 
Sinai,  and  must  suffer  all  the  rigors  of  the  desert  life. 


Moses  281 

"And  thou  shalt  remember  all  the  way  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  led  thee  these  forty  years  in  the  wilderness, 
to  humble  thee,  and  to  prove  thee"  (Deut.  8:2). 

The  Jews  have  identified  religion  with  the  Law, 
and  the  Law  with  the  teachings  of  Moses.  "Did  not 
Moses  give  you  the  Law,  and  yet  none  of  you  keepeth 
the  Law?  Why  go  ye  about  to  kill  me?"  (John  7:  19). 
The  observance,  the  keeping  of  the  Law,  is  revealed 
in  a  life  attuned  to  justice  and  virtue.  Jesus,  like  all 
true  prophets,  succeeding  Moses,  taught  by  his  life 
and  the  words  which  he  uttered,  that  the  fulfillment  of 
the  Law  was  absolutely  indispensable  to  the  salvation 
of  man.  The  words  of  Jesus  concerning  the  Law  are 
ample  and  free  from  ambiguity.  "One  jot  or  tittle 
shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  Law,  till  all  be  fulfilled" 
(Matt.  5:  17-19).  Jesus  unsparingly  condemned  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  because  they  did  not  live  worthy 
of  the  Law.  "For  ye  pay  tithe  of  mint  and  anise  and 
cummin,  and  have  omitted  the  weightier  matters  of  the 
Law,  judgment,  mercy,  and  faith  [Justice,  Mercy,  and 
Truth] :  these  ye  ought  to  have  done  ...  Ye  blind  guides, 
which  strain  at  a  gnat,  and  swallow  a  camel"  (Matt. 
23:23,24). 

Jesus  did  not  find  fault  with  the  teachings  of  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees;  but  he  did  condemn  them 
unqualifiedly  for  not  living  in  harmony  with  the  Law. 
"  Then  spake  Jesus  to  the  multitude,  and  to  his  disciples, 
saying:  The  scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses' 
seat:  whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe 
and  do;  but  do  not  after  their  works;  for  they  say,  and 
do  not"  (Matt.  23:  1-3).  Jesus  recognized  that  what 
Moses  had  taught  was  fundamental  and  obligatory. 
It  therefore  follows  that  all  Scripture  and  philosophy 
descriptive  of  the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  and  the 


282  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

mode  and  manner  of  its  evolution,  given  to  the  world 
subsequent  to  the  time  of  Moses,  are  but  reiterations 
of  what  he  taught. 

There  is  no  instance  in  all  human  history,  where 
such  honor  and  dignity  were  attached  to  teaching  as  in 
ancient  Israel.  No  teachers  were  ever  more  highly 
respected  than  were  Aaron  and  his  sons  and  their 
successors  in  office;  they  were  the  teachers  and  keepers 
of  the  Law,  and  they  ministered  in  and  about  the 
tabernacle.  They  taught  that  man  should  make  his 
soul  as  clean  and  chaste  and  holy  as  was  the  tabernacle, 
as  pure  as  an  offering  of  "fine  white  flour"  (Lev.  2:1). 
But  there  is  a  clear  distinction  between  the  Levitical 
priesthood,  and  the  order  of  Melchisedec  (Heb.  chap. 
7).  There  is  a  clear  distinction  between  the  priest  who 
taught  principles  by  ministrations  in  and  about  the 
tabernacle,  and  the  Master  who  represents  in  his 
own  life  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law.  The  teaching  of 
the  precepts  of  the  Law:  commands  and  inhibitions 
were  a  means  to  an  end,  but  the  fulfillment  of  the 
Law  represents  an  end  in  itself.  The  Master  represents 
"the  end  of  the  Law  of  righteousness  to  every  one  that 
believeth"  (Rom.  10:4).  "Wherefore  the  Law  [as 
taught  by  the  Levitical  priesthood]  was  our  school- 
master to  bring  us  to  a  knowledge  of  the  life  of  the 
Master,  that  we  might  be  justified  by  faith"  (Gal. 
3:24).  When  man  attains  to  that  faith  which  leads 
him  to  act  in  obedience  to  conscience  and  reason,  then 
he  is  no  longer  a  child  who  is  in  need  of  being  controlled 
by  commands  and  inhibitions.  "But  after  that  faith 
is  come,  we  are  no  longer  under  a  schoolmaster" 
(Gal.  3:  25). 

"The  Law  is  not  hidden  from  thee,  neither  is  it  far 
off.  It  is  not  in  heaven,  that  thou  shouldst  say,  Who 


Moses  283 

shall  go  up  for  us  to  heaven,  and  bring  it  unto  us,  that 
we  may  hear  it,  and  do  it?  But  the  word  is  very  nigh 
unto  thee,  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy  heart,  that  thou 
mayst  do  it.  See,  I  have  set  before  thee  this  day  life 
and  good,  and  death  and  evil"  (Deut.  30:11-15). 
This  language  is  significant;  for  if  the  Law  of  Human 
Life  is  not  in  Heaven,  then  it  is  revealed;  and  he  who 
revealed  it  must  first  have  fulfilled  it;  and  moreover, 
the  Law  must  be  important  above  all  else,  for  we 
are  told  that  it  sets  before  man  "life  and  good,  and 
death  and  evil."  Remember,  "life  and  good, "and 
"death  and  evil"  represent  states  of  the  soul,  and  not 
of  the  body.  "It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth,  the 
flesh  profiteth  nothing"  (John  6:  63). 

The  Law  points  the  way  of  salvation ;  it  points  the 
way  of  life  and  good  and  of  death  and  evil.  Paul  tells 
how  the  Law  taught  him  the  way  of  life  and  of  death. 
"For  I  was  alive  without  the  Law  once:  but  when 
the  commandment  came,  sin  revived,  and  I  died. 
And  the  commandment,  which  was  ordained  to  life,  I 
found  to  be  unto  death.  For  sin,  taking  occasion  by 
the  commandment,  deceived  me,  and  by  it  slew  me. 
Wherefore  the  Law  is  holy,  and  just,  and  good"  (Rom. 
7:9-12).  This  we  would  interpret:  there  was  a  time 
when  I  did  not  know  the  Law,  and  I  believed  that  I  was 
alive;  but  when  I  came  to  understand  the  command- 
ments of  the  Law,  I  found  that  I  was  deceived,  and 
that  I  was  in  a  sensuous  and  carnal  state,  in  a  state  of 
death.  "Wherefore  the  Law  is  holy."  The  prophet 
Baruch,  when  speaking  of  the  Law,  said:  "This  is 
the  book  of  the  commandments  of  God,  and  the  Law 
that  endureth  forever:  all  they  that  keep  it  shall  come  to 
life;  but  such  as  leave  it  shall  die.  Turn  thee,  O  Jacob, 
and  take  hold  of  it:  walk  in  the  presence  of  the  light 


284  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

thereof,  that  ihou  mayst  be  illumined.  .  .  .  O  Israel, 
happy  are  we:  for  the  things  that  are  pleasing  to  God 
are  made  known  unto  us"  (Baruch  4:  1-4).  "For  not 
the  hearers  of  the  Law  are  just  before  God,  but  the 
doers  of  the  Law  shall  be  justified"  (Rom.  2:  13). 
It  is  the  duty  of  carnal  man  first  to  walk  in  obedience 
to  the  precepts  of  the  Law,  and  to  make  his  soul  as 
clean  and  chaste  as  was  the  tabernacle,  to  the  end  that 
he  may  be  awakened  out  of  a  state  of  carnality  and 
death;  to  the  end  that  he  "may  be  illumined";  and 
thus  come  to  realize  the  true  life,  the  spiritual. 

The  temple  builded  in  Jerusalem,  and  spoken  of  in 
history  as  Solomon's  Temple,  stood  for  more  than  four 
hundred  years;  and  like  the  tabernacle  it  was  entered 
from  the  east;  and  in  all  of  its  appointments  it  was 
identical  with  the  tabernacle  of  which  it  was  an  enlarged 
pattern.  It  is  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  and  in  history 
that  this  temple  was  destroyed  at  the  time  of  the 
Babylonian  invasion.  The  temple,  the  great  Jewish 
house  of  worship,  that  existed  in  Jerusalem  during  the 
time  of  the  ministry  of  Jesus  was  also  fashioned  after 
the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle. 

If  the  tabernacle  in  its  outward  structure  represented 
the  human  body,  and  its  inner  structure  the  human  soul, 
then  of  course  the  temple  on  Mount  Moriah  in  Jerusalem 
in  the  days  of  Jesus  represented  the  body  and  soul  of 
man.  This  being  understood,  there  ought  to  be  no 
difficulty  in  understanding  the  words  of  Jesus  which  are 
recorded  in  the  second  chapter  of  John.  In  this  chapter 
he  is  represented  as  driving  the  animals  and  money- 
changers out  of  the  temple.  Does  any  intelligent  person 
believe  that  any  human  soul  will  realize  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  the  kingdom  which  transcends  the  animal  kingdom 
of  the  world,  until  every  vestige  of  animalism  within 


Moses  285 

the  soul  is  destroyed?  "Destroy  this  temple,  and  in 
three  days  I  will  raise  it  up"  (John  2:  19).  This,  it 
would  seem,  has  reference  not  to  three  literal  days,  but 
to  the  building  of  the  spiritual  body,  the  perfection  of 
the  human  soul.  "Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  I  do 
cures  to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  I  shall 
be  perfected"  (Luke  13:  32).  "But  Jesus  spake  of  the 
temple  of  his  body"  (John  2: 21). 

It  is  certainly  apparent,  that  the  tabernacle,  and 
the  Jewish  temple  in  Jerusalem  that  was  a  pattern 
of  it,  were  builded  as  they  were  for  the  express  purpose 
of  describing  and  illustrating  the  nature  of  the  human 
soul,  and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its  orderly  evolution ; 
and  it  also  follows  that  if  the  temple  were  to  be  availed 
of  and  the  truths  of  human  nature  taught  in  a  true, 
concise,  and  uniform  fashion,  then  it  was  necessary  to 
have  an  officiary,  a  class  of  teachers,  a  priesthood,  to 
minister  in  and  about  the  temple.  Therefore,  the 
temple  and  the  priesthood  did  not  constitute  an  end  in 
themselves,  but  they  did  constitute  a  very  efficient  means 
toward  the  most  important  end  under  heaven,  to  wit, 
the  perfection  of  the  soul  of  man.  ' '  If  perfection  were 
by  the  Levitical  priesthood  [for  under  it  the  people 
were  taught  the  Law]  what  further  need  was  there  that 
another  priest  should  arise  after  the  order  of  Melchise- 
dec,  and  not  be  called  after  the  order  of  Aaron?"  (Heb. 
7:11).  The  priests  were  the  keepers  and  teachers  of 
the  Law;  but  the  prophets  and  Masters  are  they  that 
have  fulfilled  the  Law.  The  teaching  of  the  Law  is  a 
means  to  an  end,  but  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law  is  an 
end  in  itself.  They  who  have  fulfilled  the  Law  con- 
stitute the  order  of  Melchisedec.  "I  am  the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life  "  (John  14:6).  Of  course  a  righteous 
human  soul  is  incomparably  superior  as  a  teaching 


286  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

instrument  to  any  conceivable  model,  or  pattern  of 
it.  "But  I  say  unto  you,  That  in  this  place  is  one 
greater  than  the  temple"  (Matt.  12:6). 

Idolatry  was  suppressed  by  means  of  the  one  temple; 
and  the  priestly  services  in  connection  with  it  gave 
fixedness  and  uniformity  to  the  faith  of  Israel.  The 
priesthood  and  the  tabernacle,  or  the  temple,  with 
which  they  were  associated,  tended  to  give  to  religious 
knowledge  a  certainty  and  fixedness  never  before  nor 
since  approached.  Jesus  did  not  complain  of  the 
teachings  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  who  were  in 
and  about  the  temple,  and  who  "sat  in  Moses'  seat"; 
but  he  did  condemn  unsparingly  the  lives  that  they 
lived.  "Whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe 
and  do ;  but  do  not  after  their  works :  for  they  say,  and 
do  not"  (Matt.  23:2).  The  temple  in  Jerusalem  was 
destroyed  about  the  year  70  A.D.  Dr.  Abraham 
Geiger,  Rabbi  of  an  Israelite  Congregation  at  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  in  his  interesting  and  instructive 
book,  Judaism  and  its  History,  translated  into  English 
by  Charles  Newburgh  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  said: 
"The  sacrificial  service  and  the  priesthood  were 
suddenly  swept  away,  when  the  temple  existed  no 
more."  The  temple  was  necessary  to  the  priesthood, 
and  the  priesthood  to  the  temple.  That  faith 
which  is  founded  upon  the  Law  lost  its  central  and 
unifying  institution  with  the  destruction  of  the 
temple;  and  we  believe  it  is  fair  to  say,  that,  to  the 
extent  that  mankind  have  lost  sight  of  the  Law,  re- 
ligion has  deteriorated,  and  become  sectarian,  partisan, 
unscientific,  and  weak. 

Judaism,  or  the  religion  of  Israel,  is  a  universal 
religion  because  it  is  founded  upon  a  Law  that  specifi- 
cally points  the  way  of  salvation,  a  Law  that  has  a  like 


Moses  287 

application  to  every  human  soul.  "God  gives  unto  all 
the  inheritance,  and  the  kingdom,  and  the  priesthood, 
and  sanctification,  as  he  promised  in  the  Law"  (2 
Mace.  2:17,  18;  Deut.  30:5).  What  the  priesthood 
taught  is  a  necessary  step  in  human  salvation.  Elias 
must  first  come  and  restore  all  things  to  their  right 
relation.  The  teachings  of  the  Levitical  priesthood  were 
a  means  to  an  end ;  but  sanctification  is  an  end  in  itself. 
"This  is  the  will  of  God,  even  your  sanctification" 
(i  Thess.  4:3).  In  a  word,  God  gives  to  all  who  obey 
the  Law,  who  live  clean  and  virtuous  lives,  the  inherit- 
ance; the  realization  of  His  Kingdom;  the  knowledge 
that  was  taught  of  the  priesthood,  the  keepers  of  the 
Law;  and,  lastly,  sanctification,  the  state  of  moral 
purity  and  perfection  of  life.  The  condition  of  knowing 
the  Law  is  a  willingness  to  do  it,  to  obey  it.  "For 
Ezra  had  prepared  his  heart  to  seek  the  Law  of  the 
Lord,  and  to  do  it,  and  to  teach  in  Israel  statutes  and 
judgments"  (Ezra  7:  10). 

That  Judaism  is  a  universal  religion,  and  the  only 
possible  universal  religion,  is  made  manifest  in  the 
nature  of  the  Law  itself.  Dr.  Geiger,  in  the  second 
chapter  of  Part  Two  of  his  book,  Judaism  and  its 
History,  when  discussing  the  fall  of  the  temple  and  the 
dissolution  of  the  priesthood,  said : 

Judaism  had  arisen  in  a  people;  this  people  was  the 
carrier  of  the  ideas  of  that  faith,  and  it  could  not  historically 
be  otherwise.  This  religion  reached  out  far  beyond  the 
barriers  of  the  people;  it  taught  that  it  should  at  sometime 
become  the  common  property  of  mankind;  it  did  not  confine 
itself  to  the  compatriots  of  Israel,  but  joyfully  accepted 
all  who  acknowledged  it  in  a  true  and  faithful  spirit.  .  .  . 
Jewish  parentage  did  not  make  one  a  member  of  the  con- 
gregation of  Israel  [says  Rabbi  Geiger],  but  the  acknow- 


288  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

ledgment  of  the  faith.     The  stranger  and  the  home-born, 
thus  it  was  continually  repeated,  were  to  be  perfectly  equal. 

The  priesthood  were  the  specially  appointed  "car- 
riers" of  Israel's  faith;  they  were  the  keepers  of  the 
Law;  and  that  they  might  consistently  keep  and  teach 
the  Law  and  preserve  the  unity  of  Israel,  the  tabernacle, 
clean,  chaste,  and  holy,  a  thing  that  represented  the 
body  and  soul  of  man,  was  forever  before  them  and  the 
people  they  taught.  The  Law  was  taught  to  the  people 
of  ancient  Israel  in  the  simplest  and  plainest  way.  In 
a  word,  the  dwelling  of  the  tabernacle,  pure  and  holy 
and  protected  from  desecration,  was  a  symbol  that 
admonished  every  Israelite  to  make  his  soul  the  fit 
dwelling  place  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  God's  Spirit 
dwells  in  Zion,  in  the  hearts  of  the  righteous.  "For 
the  Lord  hath  chosen  Zion ;  He  hath  desired  it  for  His 
habitation"  (Ps.  132:  13).  The  Sciences  are  founded 
upon  the  laws  of  nature.  Every  natural  object  is 
fashioned  by  an  inner  living  law.  Then,  will  it  be 
denied  that  religion  is  founded  upon  an  Heaven-given 
Law?  The  Law  of  nature  is  the  Law  of  God.  The 
Law  that  governs  the  orderly  evolution  of  the  soul  of 
man  is  the  Law  of  God. 

When  Jesus  is  asked  the  way  of  salvation,  is  there 
any  uncertainty  in  his  reply?  "Master,  what  must 
I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life?  Jesus  said  unto  him,  What 
is  written  in  the  Law?  .  .  .  This  do,  and  thou  shalt 
live"  (Luke  10:25-28;  Matt.  19:16-20).  Nothing 
in  all  the  Scriptures  is  more  certain  than  that  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  taught  in  the  life  that  he  lived,  and  in  the 
words  he  uttered,  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  Law  as  the  way  of  salvation  (Matt.  5: 
17-19).  It  therefore  follows  that  there  is  a  perfect 


Moses  289 

identity  between  the  teachings  of  Moses  and  the 
teachings  of  Jesus.  When  the  son  of  man  is  lifted  up, 
when  the  mind  and  soul  of  man  are  made  pure  and 
holy  by  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law,  then  it  is  that  man 
becomes  the  "heir  of  all  things,"  then  it  is  that  the 
mind  of  man  comes  to  behold  in  itself  the  glory  and 
image  of  God  (Heb.  1:2,  3). 

Paul  in  the  beginning  of  his  letter  to  his  disciple 
Timothy  tells  him  to  "give  no  heed  to  fables  and 
endless  genealogies";  and  in  his  epistle  to  Titus  (3:9) 
he  again  says  it  is  unprofitable  and  vain  to  ask  questions 
and  to  speculate  about  the  Law.  The  truth  of  the 
Law  is  demonstrated  in  a  life  lived  in  obedience  to  it; 
and  it  is,  therefore,  not  aided  by  the  recounting  of 
genealogies  and  by  speculations;  for  it  is  apparent,  as 
Paul  says,  that  these  things  do  not  minister  to  edifica- 
tion and  faith  (i  Tim.  1:4).  "Now  the  end  of  the 
commandments  [of  the  Law]  is  charity  out  of  a  pure 
heart,  and  of  a  good  conscience,  and  of  faith  unfeigned" 
(i  Tim.  1:5);  for  these  things  represent  the  end  of  the 
commandments,  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law. 

Emerson,  like  Paul,  did  not  believe  that  genealogies, 
and  fables,  and  legends,  such  as  are  woven  about  the 
lives  of  all  the  great,  should  be  permitted  to  obscure 
principles.  In  His  essay  on  Plato,  the  Philosopher, 
when  speaking  of  the  birth  of  this  ancient  sage,  he 
says: 

In  short,  a  balanced  soul  was  born,  perceptive  of  two 
elements.  .  .  .  The  reason  why  we  do  not  at  once  believe 
in  admirable  souls,  is  because  they  are  not  in  our  experience. 
In  actual  life,  they  are  so  rare  as  to  be  incredible;  but, 
primarily,  there  is  not  only  no  presumption  against  them, 
but  the  strongest  presumption  in  favor  of  their  appearance. 
But  whether  voices  were  heard  in  the  sky  or  not;  whether 


290  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

his  mother  or  his  father  dreamed  that  the  infant  man-child 
was  the  son  of  Apollo ;  whether  a  swarm  of  bees  settled  on 
his  lips  or  not;  a  man  who  could  see  two  sides  of  a  thing  was 
born. 

"The  most  lamentable  scepticism  on  earth,  and 
incomparably  the  most  common,  is  a  scepticism  as  to 
the  greatness,  powers,  and  high  destinies  of  human 
nature."  Dr.  Channing,  on  another  occasion,  when 
discoursing  on  the  subject,  "The  Inimitableness  of 
Christ's  Character,"  said:  "I  no  longer  see  aught  to 
prevent  our  becoming  whatever  was  good  and  great 
in  Jesus  on  earth."  Emerson,  like  Channing,  affirmed 
that  the  life  and  works  of  Jesus  fell  entirely  within 
the  field  of  human  experience.  Jesus  taught  the  possi- 
bilities of  man.  He  emphasized  this  idea.  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth  on  me,  the 
works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also ;  and  greater  works  shall 
he  do;  because  I  go  to  my  Father  (John  14: 12).  It  is 
a  lack  of  faith  in  the  high  and  holy  possibilities  of  man, 
that  has  led  mankind  away  from  the  contemplation  of 
the  Law  of  Human  Life,  and  has  resulted  in  the  multi- 
plication of  religious  sects  founded  upon  metaphysical 
abstractions  unscientific,  unteachable,  and  undemon- 
strable.  If  there  is  a  Law  of  Huma'n  Life  applicable 
to  the  soul  of  man  (and  it  is  unthinkable  that  there 
should  not  be),  then  it  follows  as  a  matter  of  course, 
that  every  human  soul  that  would  attain  to  its  true 
inheritance  must  conform  to  this  high  and  holy  Law. 

The  Law  itself  which  Moses  gave  to  Israel,  and  which 
Jesus  honored  and  fulfilled,  tends  above  all  to  fix  the 
status  of  Moses,  and  of  Jesus;  and  of  all  the  truly  great. 
Has  the  man  fulfilled  the  Law?  This  is  the  criterion. 
Whether  voices  were  heard  in  the  sky,  or  not;  whether 


Moses  291 

three  wise  men  came  from  the  east  or  not  at  the  time 
of  the  birth  of  the  infant  Jesus,  are  legends  that 
can  neither  be  proved,  nor  disproved.  Therefore,  the 
wise  advice  of  Paul:  "Give  no  heed  to  fables  and 
endless  genealogies."  Let  men  give  their  attention 
to  those  religious  principles  which  are  both  teachable 
and  demonstrable,  and  avoid  those  legends  that  lead 
to  contention  and  speculation,  which  do  not  minister 
to  godly  edifying  which  is  made  manifest  in  faith. 

Religion  is  evidently  founded  upon  a  Law  that  finds 
fulfillment  in  the  soul;  its  foundation  is  eternal  and 
everlasting;  and  all  institutions  that  teach  doctrines 
other  than  those  found  in  the  Law  are  destined  to  wax 
old  as  a  garment,  and  the  places  that  knew  them  shall 
know  them  no  more  forever.  Religion  is  ever  the 
same,  and  its  years  shall  have  no  end.  All  hail  to 
Moses,  the  giver  of  the  Law.  "This  is  the  Book  of 
the  Commandments  of  God,  and  the  Law  that  endureth 
forever:  all  they  that  keep  it  shall  come  to  life;  but  such 
as  leave  it  shall  die.  .  .  .  O  Israel,  happy  are  we: 
for  the  things  that  are  pleasing  to  God  are  made  known 
unto  us"  (Baruch  4:1,  4).  "Which  is  the  first  com- 
mandment of  all?  And  Jesus  answered  him,  The  first 
of  all  the  commandments  is,  Hear,  O  Israel ;  the  Lord  our 
God  is  One  Lord:  And  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all 
thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength:  this  is  the  first 
commandment.  And  the  second  is  like,  namely  this, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  There  is 
none  other  commandment  greater  than  these"  (Mark 
12:28-31).  "On  these  two  commandments  hang  all 
the  Law  and  the  prophets"  (Matt.  22: 40). 

These  two  commands  proclaimed  by  Moses  (Deut. 
6:4,  5;  Lev.  19: 1 8),  and  affirmed  by  Jesus,  are  great 


292  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

and  fundamental  above  all,  because  they  announce 
principles  that  underlie  the  whole  superstructure  of 
religion,  to  wit :  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brother- 
hood of  man.  "  Have  we  not  all  One  Father?  Has  not 
One  God  created  us  all?"  (Mai.  2:10;  Matt.  23:9.) 
These  principles  should  awaken  in  every  human  heart 
unspeakable  gratitude  and  edification;  for  they  an- 
nounce the  high  and  holy  possibilities  of  man.  They  are 
not  matters  of  history ;  they  were  not  given  to  be  reck- 
oned as  such ;  they  were  given  to  be  realized  in  human 
consciousness.  All  who  are  faithful  to  conscience  and 
reason;  all  who  live  clean  and  virtuous  lives;  all  who 
live  above  the  spirit  of  the  world,  come  to  realize  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
The  Scriptures  tell  us  again  and  again  that  these  prin- 
ciples are  to  be  realized  in  human  experience;  and 
when  they  are  realized,  man  is  said  to  pass  into  the 
promised  land  (Deut.  6:4-18).  The  promised  land 
is  a  symbol  of  a  high  and  holy  state  of  consciousness, 
a  state  transcending  the  animal,  sensuous  world,  a 
state  that  relates  man  to  the  Kingdom  of  God ;  for  the 
land  that  was  given  to  Abraham,  and  to  Isaac,  and  to 
Jacob,  is  the  land  of  "the  living,"  the  land  of  the  resur- 
rected (Deut.  6: 10;  Mark  12:  26,  27). 

Nothing  is  a  matter  of  speculation  that  is  demon- 
strable in  a  life  lived.  "That  which  may  be  known  of 
God  is  made  manifest  in  the  lives  of  the  just;  for  God 
hath  shown  the  truth  unto  them"  (Rom.  1:19). 
Moses,  and  Elijah,  and  Jesus,  and  all  the  truly  great, 
demonstrated  the  truth  of  Israel's  religion  in  the  lives 
that  they  lived.  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life:  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me" 
(John  14:  6).  Religion  is  founded  upon  principles  that 
are  demonstrable ;  and  no  truth  essential  to  religion  lies 


Moses  293 

outside  of  the  field  of  human  experience;  therefore, 
those  legends  and  historical  events  interspersed  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  which  have  filled  the  world  with  theo- 
logical riddles  and  speculations,  are  not  essential  to 
religion. 

0  Power,  more  near  my  life  than  life  itself, 
If  sometimes  I  must  hear  good  men  debate 
Of  other  witness  of  Thyself  than  Thou, 

As  if  there  needed  any  help  of  ours 

To  nurse  Thy  flickering  life,  that  else  must  cease, 

Blown  out,  as  'twere  a  candle,  by  men's  breath, 

My  soul  shall  not  be  taken  in  their  snare, 

To  change  her  inward  surety  for  their  doubt 

Muffled  from  sight  in  formal  robes  of  proof: 

While  she  can  only  feel  herself  through  Thee, 

1  fear  not  Thy  withdrawal;  more  I  fear, 
Seeing,  to  know  Thee  not,  hoodwinked  with  dreams 
Of  signs  and  wonders,  while,  unnoticed,  Thou, 
Walking  Thy  garden  still  commun'st  with  men, 
Missed  in  the  commonplace  of  miracle. 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL. 

The  two  great  commands,  or  principles,  the  love  of 
God  and  the  love  of  man,  proclaimed  by  Moses  (Deut. 
6:4,  5;  Lev.  19:18)  and  affirmed  by  Jesus  (Mark 
12:  28-31)  represent  an  end  in  themselves;  they  repre- 
sent a  high  and  holy  state  of  consciousness,  a  state 
wherein  man  apprehends  in  his  mind  and  heart  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
Therefore,  it  may  be  said  that  all  other  religious  ideas 
are  but  means  to  the  end  just  described,  to  wit:  the 
writing  of  these  two  great  principles  in  the  heart 
of  man.  "And  these  words  which  I  command  thee 
this  day,  shall  be  in  thine  heart"  (Deut.  6:6).  "On 


294  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  Law  and  the 
prophets"  (Matt.  22:40).  All  the  precepts  of  the 
Law  and  the  teachings  of  the  prophets  were  given 
that  these  two  great  principles  might  be  written  in  the 
hearts  of  men;  and  thus  the  Kingdom  of  God  made  an 
existing  fact  on  earth  among  the  children  of  men. 
"Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is 
in  heaven." 

The  great  religious  teachers  of  the  world,  the  Masters, 
the  "unchangeable  priesthood,"  they  of  the  order  of 
Melchisedec,  are  forever  calling  mankind  back  to  the 
Law;  they  are  forever  calling  mankind  back  to  the 
consideration  of  a  few  simple  principles  which  are  both 
teachable  and  demonstrable;  and  are,  therefore,  not  a 
matter  of  speculation.  But  so  prone  is  the  heart  of 
man  to  the  subtilty  of  the  serpent  that  these  principles, 
simple  in  themselves,  are  speedily  obscured  by  the 
inventions  of  sensuous  men,  and  thus  religion  becomes 
sectarian,  and  partisan,  and  given  over  to  conten- 
tion, strife,  and  speculation.  "But  I  fear,  lest  by  any 
means,  as  the  serpent  beguiled  Eve  through  his  sub- 
tilty, so  your  minds  should  be  corrupted  from  the 
simplicity  that  is  in  Christ"  (2  Cor.  11:3). 

How  simple,  how  orderly,  how  divinely  human  have 
been  the  lives  and  the  teachings  of  all  the  truly  great. 
They  who  fulfill  the  Law  live  the  simple  life;  and  teach 
the  same  doctrine;  for  they  are  the  organs  of  the  One 
Eternal  Spirit.  "God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of 
his  holy  prophets,  which  has  been  since  the  world  began  " 
(Luke  1:70).  "Wisdom  in  all  ages  entering  into 
holy  souls  have  made  them  friends  of  God,  and  prophets" 
(Wisd.  of  Sol.  7:27).  Religion  is  represented  in  the 
love  of  God  and  of  man.  Paul,  a  true  lover  of  God 
and  man,  tells  in  vigorous  phrase  that  religion  is  "as 


Moses  295 

sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling  cymbal,"  if  the  soul 
be  not  attuned  to  love  (i  Cor.  13:  1-3).  "Therefore, 
Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  Law"  (Rom.  13:  8,  10). 

The  Spirit  of  God  is  our  Master.  Without  the 
free  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  the  soul  of  man  becomes  arid 
and  dry,  his  voice  hollow  and  his  utterance  false.  Man, 
would  he  be  a  man,  must  labor  to  make  his  soul  an 
organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  for  He  is  indeed  the  Com- 
forter; "He  shall  teach  you  all  things"  (John  14:26). 
If  man  be  faithful,  the  day  will  come  when  the  Spirit 
will  possess  him  and  will  gird  him  for  the  contest  (John 
21 :  1 8).  The  men  of  the  Spirit  are  the  religious  teachers 
of  mankind ;  for  in  truth  they  are  sent  of  God  (2  Chron. 
24:  20;  I  Sam.  10:  6;  16: 13;  Ezek.  11:5). 

While  swings  the  sea,  while  mists  the  mountains  shroud, 
While  thunder's  surges  burst  on  banks  of  cloud, 
Still  at  the  prophet's  feet  the  Nations  sit. 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ELIJAH 

"Elias  for  being  zealous  and  fervent  for  the  Law  was  taken  up  into 
heaven"  (i  Maccabees  2:  58). 

IN  the  first  book  of  Kings  (16:30-33),  it  is  written 
that  Ahab  did  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  above  all, 
that  he  did  more  to  provoke  the  Lord  of  Israel  to  anger 
than  all  the  kings  of  Israel  that  were  before  him.  He 
took  to  wife  Jezebel,  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  the 
Zidonians,  "and  went  and  served  Baal,  and  worshiped 
him."  The  Law  of  Jehovah  promulgated  by  Moses 
was  obligatory  upon  the  children  of  Israel,  and  their 
rulers  (Deut.  31 :  10-13;  17:  J8>  J9J  Josh.  1 :  8).  Every 
king  of  Israel  was  commanded  to  have  a  book  of  the 
Law  (Deut.  17: 18).  Since  the  Law  is  at  the  heart  of 
Israel's  religion,  the  kings  of  Israel,  like  David,  and 
Hezekiah,  and  Josiah,  who  stood  unqualifiedly  for  the 
Law  and  rallied  the  people  to  its  observance,  and 
destroyed  the  idols,  altars,  and  images  used  in  the 
worship  of  false  gods,  were  the  great  kings  of  Israel; 
they  were  God's  anointed;  they  were  Jehovah's  ap- 
pointed representatives.  Ahab  on  the  contrary  re- 
presents the  fallen  and  degenerate  kings  of  Israel.  In 
Israel  all  true  men  live  worthy  of  the  Law;  and  all 
degenerates  disregard  and  mock  it.  A  faithful  observ- 
296 


Elijah  297 

ance  of  the  Law  is  the  condition  of  all  higher  knowledge; 
it  is  the  Law,  therefore,  that  points  the  way  of  the  ruler 
and  teacher  in  Israel.  "O  how  I  love  Thy  Law!  it 
is  my  meditation  all  the  day.  .  .  I  have  more  under- 
standing than  all  my  teachers:  for  thy  testimonies 
are  my  meditation.  I  understand  more  than  the 
ancients,  because  I  keep  Thy  precepts.  I  have  re- 
frained my  feet  from  evil  ways,  that  I  might  keep  Thy 
Word.  I  have  not  departed  from  Thy  judgments: 
for  Thou  hast  taught  me.  .  .  .  Through  Thy  pre- 
cepts I  get  understanding :  therefore  I  hate  every  false 
way"  (Ps.  119:97-104). 

Not  only  were  the  Israelites  commanded  to  serve  and 
worship  Jehovah,  but  they  were  also  commanded  to 
blot  out  the  evidence  of  the  worship  of  other  gods. 
"Ye  shall  destroy  their  altars,  break  their  images, 
and  cut  down  their  groves"  (Ex.  34:  13).  Death  was 
meted  out  to  those  who  counseled  the  worship  of  other 
gods  than  Jehovah  (Deut.  13:6-9).  No  Israelite 
is  suffered  to  forget  that  Jehovah  is  a  just  God,  and 
the  judge  of  all  the  earth.  "Shall  not  the  judge  of  all 
the  earth  do  right?"  (Gen.  18: 25). 

The  one  infallible  test  of  an  Israelite  is,  that  he 
faithfully  serve  and  worship  Israel's  God,  Jehovah;  the 
God  who  led  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  the  land  of  carnality, 
"the  land  of  Ham"  (Ps.  105:23),  and  gave  to  Israel 
the  Law.  The  God  who  leads  man  away  from  the 
carnal  life  and  teaches  him  the  Law  of  Human  Life, 
and  communes  with  him  in  the  depths  of  his  own  soul 
is,  according  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  the  Most  High 
God.  Jehovah  is  conceived  of  as  Spirit,  as  pure  men- 
tality; wherever  there  is  Virtue,  Truth,  Wisdom,  and 
Justice,  there  is  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  made  manifest. 
"Not  by  virtue  of  material  strength  and  political  power 


298  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

shall  ye  prevail,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord" 
(Zech.  4:6).  The  prophet  is  called  "the  man  of  the 
Spirit,"  or  the  spiritual  man  (Hosea  9:7).  "I  am 
full  of  power  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord"  (Micah  3:8). 
The  Spirit  of  God  is  in  the  heart  of  the  prophet,  "as  a 
burning  fire,  and  [he  feels  that  he]  can  not  endure 
it"  (Jer.  20:  9;  Amos  3:8;  Acts  4:  20;  Job  32: 18,  19). 
It  is  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man  that  impels 
him  to  virtue.  All  power  is  of  God ;  therefore  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  soul's  perfection.  The  monotheism  of  Israel 
consists  in  the  service  and  worship  of  One  Almighty 
Spiritual  Being,  and  of  Him  alone.  "Hold  fast  the 
doctrine  of  a  purely  Spiritual  Divinity,"  said  William 
Ellery  Channing.  The  idea  of  the  unity  of  God  is  born 
of  reason ;  for  it  is  apparent  that  all  the  works  of  nature 
exist  in  unity.  "All  things  proceed  from  One  Eternal 
Energy,"  said  Herbert  Spencer.  "Have  we  not  all 
One  Father?  Has  not  One  God  created  us  all?"  (Mai. 
2:10).  "Call  no  man  your  father  upon  the  earth, 
for  One  is  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven"  (Matt. 

23:9). 

The  Law  was  an  imperative  command  to  all  Israel; 
and  in  the  days  of  Jesus  Christ  an  attempt  was  made 
through  his  disciples  to  communicate  the  religion  of 
Israel  which  is  founded  upon  the  Law  to  all  mankind. 
No  principles  of  knowledge,  it  would  seem,  were  ever 
urged  upon  any  people,  with  such  earnestness  and 
persistence,  as  were  those  of  the  Law  upon  Israel. 
The  appalling  calamities  that  befell  the  Israelites  of  old 
were  attributed  to  their  persistent  violations  of  the 
Law  (2  Kings  17:  13  ff.;  Neh.  9:29,  30;  Dan.  9:5,  6; 
Zech.  7: 12;  Amos  3:2;  Jer.  16:  n,  18).  If  there  be  a 
Law  of  Human  Life,  then,  of  course,  human  greatness 
consists  in  its  fulfillment;  and  all  sin,  sickness,  and 


Elijah  299 

death  bespeak  the  violation  of  it.  Moreover,  if  there 
be  a  Law  of  Human  Life  that  unerringly  points  the 
way  of  the  soul's  perfection  and  thus  relates  man  to 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  spiritual  kingdom  that 
transcends  the  animal  kingdom  of  the  world,  then  it 
follows,  of  course,  that  no  compromise  should  be 
made  with  other  gods  and  doctrines.  The  Law  cuts 
off  every  hope  of  God's  favor,  except  that  which  springs 
from  a  practical  conformity  to  a  life  of  truth,  righteous- 
ness, and  justice. 

The  Israelites  were  commanded  to  serve  and  worship 
Jehovah;  and  to  abstain  from  the  service  and  worship 
of  other  gods;  in  a  word  they  were  commanded  and 
admonished  to  abstain  from  all  practices  other  than 
those  prescribed  by  the  Law  (Deut.  6:6-14;  13:2  ff.; 
18:20;  Isa.  8:20;  Jer.  2:8;  23:  13-15;  Matt.  5:  17-19). 
Necromancy,  or  the  consulting  of  familiar  spirits,  was 
expressly  inhibited  by  the  prophets  of  old  (Isa.  8:  19; 
Deut.  18:  n,  12);  and  in  this  very  connection  it  will 
be  observed  that  the  Law  is  pointed  to  as  the  way  of 
perfection  (Isa.  8:20;  Deut.  18:13).  The  Law  cut 
the  Israelites  off  from  every  form  of  nature  worship; 
it  taught  them  to  worship  the  Almighty  God,  One  and 
Invisible.  The  Law  forbade  any  attempt  by  means  of 
natural  signs:  stars,  clouds,  or  birds  to  find  out  what 
ought  to  be  done  (Ex.  22: 18;  Lev.  19:26,  31;  20:6, 
27;  Deut.  18:10-14;  I  Sam.  28:9).  The  Israelites 
were  commanded  to  live  in  obedience  to  conscience 
and  reason,  the  highest  within  their  own  souls. 

Ahab  "went  and  served  Baal,  and  worshipped  him"; 
and  he  dealt  with  familiar  spirits  and  wizards  (2  Kings 
21 : 6).  He  and  his  people  were  idolatrous;  they  for- 
sook the  God  who  had  led  their  fathers  out  of  Egypt, 
out  of  carnal  bondage.  They  went  in  pursuit  of  the 


300  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

sensuous  and  luxurious  life.  Their  religion  was  a 
mockery;  orgies  and  Bacchanalian  feasts  supplanted 
the  orderly,  chaste,  and  edifying  worship  that  char- 
acterized the  congregation  of  Israel  in  the  days  of  its 
greatness.  When  the  people  of  the  northern  kingdom 
of  Israel  were  thus  fallen  into  a  state  of  debauchery 
and  idolatry,  and  were  serving  and  worshiping  strange 
gods,  Elijah  appeared  upon  the  scene.  His  character 
and  office  are  revealed  in  his  name:  "Jehovah  is  my 
God;  Jehovah  is  my  strength."  He  comes  as  does 
every  true  prophet  to  declare  and  to  restore  the  Law, 
and  thus  to  make  an  end  of  false  gods  and  doctrines. 
It  is  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  heart  of  the  just  that  re- 
veals the  Law  and  the  Testimony  (Neh.  9:30;  Zech. 
7:  12;  Isa.  8:  20) ;  the  prophet  represents  the  fulfillment 
of  the  Law.  "No  sign  shall  be  given,  but  the  sign  of 
the  prophet  Jonas."  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life"  (John  14:  6).  The  great  are  they  who  teach  a  way 
of  life  conformed  to  Heaven's  Law ;  and  their  lives  are  a 
demonstration  of  what  they  teach;  they  are  the  expo- 
nents of  the  Law  and  the  Testimony.  The  Testimony 
is  the  Law  revealed  in  the  life  of  the  prophet,  or  in 
outward  written  form.  "To  the  Law  and  the  Testi- 
mony: if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word,  it  is 
because  there  is  no  light  in  them"  (Isa.  8:  20). 

"Order  is  Truth,"  said  Thomas  Carlyle,  "Order  and 
Falsehood  cannot  subsist  together.  .  .  .  Man's  mission 
is  Order;  every  man's  is."  Disorder  represents  de- 
formity, anarchy,  and  death.  "Evil  is  evil  because  it  is 
unnatural."  Righteousness  is  righteousness  because  it 
is  natural.  The  office  of  Elijah  is  the  restoration  of 
the  Law.  "Elias  must  first  come  .  .  .  and  restore  all 
things"  (Matt.  17:10,  u).  The  first  step  necessary 
to  the  salvation  of  mankind  is  the  restoration  of  the 


Elijah  301 

Law;  until  the  divine  Law  is  recognized  and  obeyed, 
all  is  confusion.  Elias  represents  that  type  of  man 
who  stands  unqualifiedly  for  the  Law,  and  makes  no 
compromise  with  evil.  The  Law  must  be  fulfilled  as 
certainly  "as  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  liveth  before 
whom  I  stand"  (i  Kings  17:  i). 

"And  Elijah  the  Tishbite,  who  was  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Gilead,  said  unto  Ahab,  As  the  Lord  God  of  Israel 
liveth,  before  whom  I  stand,  there  shall  not  be  dew 
nor  rain  these  three  years,  but  according  to  my  word" 
(i  Kings  17  :  i).  What  was  the  nature  of  this 
drought,  this  famine,  that  is  said  to  have  lasted  three 
years  and  six  months?  (Luke  4:25;  James  5:17). 
"But  I  tell  you  of  a  truth,  many  widows  were  in 
Israel  in  the  days  of  Elias,  when  the  heavens  were  shut 
up  for  three  years  and  six  months,  when  great  famine 
was  throughout  all  the  land"  (Luke  4:  25).  The  word 
"widow,"  when  used  in  a  broad  and  poetic  sense 
means  deprivation ;  in  a  word,  there  were  many  people 
in  Israel  in  the  days  of  Elias  who  were  deprived  of 
knowledge.  "My  people  are  gone  into  captivity, 
because  they  have  no  knowledge:  and  their  honorable 
men  are  famished,  and  their  multitude  dried  up  with 
thirst"  (Isa.  5:13).  The  most  destructive  of  all 
famines  is  not  represented  in  a  "famine  of  bread,  nor  a 
thirst  for  water,  but  of  hearing  the  words  of  the  Lord" 
(Amos.  8 : 1 1).  This  is  the  appalling  famine,  the  deadly 
privation,  that  forever  comes  to  the  wicked. 

It  is  written  that  Elijah  is  commanded  to  hide  him- 
self by  the  brook  Cherith,  that  he  is  there  fed  in  a 
mysterious  way  morning  and  evening,  that  after  a 
time  the  brook  is  dried  up;  and  that  then  he  is  com- 
manded to  go  to  Zarephath  "which  belongeth  to  Zidon  " 
and  to  abide  at  the  house  of  a  widow;  and  it  is  also 


302  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

written  that  the  son  of  this  woman  fell  sick;  and  his 
sickness  was  so  sore  that  there  was  no  breath  left  in 
him;  and  that  Elijah  carried  the  widow's  son  into  a  loft 
"where  he  abode,"  and  restored  him  to  life.  "See, 
thy  son  liveth."  This  widow,  according  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, was  dead.  The  dead  are  they  who  know  not 
God ;  they  who  live  the  carnal  life.  "  And  she  said  unto 
Elijah,  What  have  I  to  do  with  thee,  O  thou  man  of 
God?  art  thou  come  to  call  my  sins  to  rememberance, 
and  to  slay  my  son?"  The  prophet,  the  just  man,  the 
man  of  God,  dismays  and  terrifies  the  sinful.  "  Depart 
from  me;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord"  (Luke  5:8). 
"And  Ahab  said  unto  Elijah,  Hast  thou  found  me,  O 
mine  enemy?  And  Elijah  answered,  I  have  found  thee: 
because  thou  hast  sold  thyself  to  work  evil  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord"  (i  Kings  21:20).  The  office  of  the 
prophet  is  to  wake  people  out  of  a  state  of  death,  "to 
call  their  sins  to  remembrance,"  and  to  bring  them  to 
a  knowledge  of  the  Law.  "And  Elijah  said,  See,  thy 
son  liveth.  And  the  woman  said  to  Elijah,  Now  by 
this  I  know  that  thou  art  a  man  of  God,  and  that  the 
word  of  the  Lord  in  thy  mouth  is  Truth." 

The  chapter  before  us,  the  seventeenth  of  I  Kings 
is,  in  its  essential  nature,  an  allegory  descriptive  of  the 
mode  and  manner  of  the  orderly  evolution  of  the  human 
soul.  It  is  the  story  of  the  prophet.  Elijah  is  fed 
miraculously  upon  the  bread  of  life,  the  word  of  God, 
morning  and  evening.  The  brook  that  gave  him  com- 
fort "dried  up."  Baptism  with  water  does  not  make 
perfect;  baptism  with  fire  is  necessary  to  perfection. 
He  abides  at  "Zarephath  which  belongeth  to  Zidon." 
The  name  Zarephath  means  "the  refining  of  metals," 
and  Zidon,  "fishing."  Metals  are  refined  with  fire; 
and  fish  drawn  out  of  the  water  is  a  symbol  of  the 


Elijah  303 

resurrection,  the  resurrection  of  man  out  of  a  state  of 
carnality  and  death  into  a  state  of  life  and  spirituality. 
Fish  when  drawn  out  of  the  water  die.  "He  that  hath 
suffereth  in  the  flesh  [and  is  dead  to  the  world]  hath 
ceased  from  sin"  (i  Peter  4:1).  Elijah  is  made  perfect 
by  suffering ;  he  is  resurrected  from  the  dead ;  "  his  right- 
eousness shall  justify  many;  for  he  shall  bear  their  in- 
iquities" (Isa.  53:  n).  He  "bears  our  sins,"  who  rises 
superior  to  every  worldly  temptation.  "Be  of  good 
cheer,  I  have  overcome  the  world." 

"The  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Elijah  in  the  third 
year,  saying,  Go,  show  thyself  unto  Ahab;  and  I  will 
send  rain  upon  the  earth"  (i  Kings  18:  i).  Elijah, 
like  Abraham,  attained  to  the  "third  day"  (John  8: 
56).  .  .  .  "Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  do  cures  to- 
day and  to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  per- 
fected" (Luke  13:32).  This  is  a  study  in  psychology. 
Elijah  is  here  represented  as  having  attained  to  a  high 
state  of  consciousness.  First  the  Gentile  state,  the 
primitive  state  of  man,  represented  by  the  proud,  con- 
ceited, pleasure-loving,  and  warlike  Egyptians;  and 
secondly,  the  intermediary  state,  the  effeminate,  where- 
in man  is  controlled  in  a  large  measure  by  his  feelings 
and  emotions,  symbolized  by  a  shifting  and  nomadic 
life  in  a  desert  land,  the  life  that  is  not  wicked,  but 
lacks  fixedness  of  purpose;  and  thirdly  and  lastly  the 
higher  state  of  consciousness,  the  masculine,  wherein 
man  is  governed  of  reason  and  conscience,  and  of 
which  the  promised  land  is  a  symbol. 

They  that  have  attained  to  the  "third  day, "  or  what 
is  the  same,  the  "third  year,"  are  the  meek.  "Moses 
was  meek  above  all  men"  (Num.  12:3).  What  is 
meekness?  It  is  gentleness,  self-control;  it  is  freedom 
from  control  by  unrestrained  feelings  and  emotions. 


304  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Water,  due  to  its  changeableness  and  lack  of  fixedness 
is  a  symbol  of  the  unrestrained  feelings  and  emotions. 
All  that  are  not  governed  of  reason  and  conscience  are, 
like  Reuben  "unstable  as  water"  (Gen.  49:4).  Ex- 
cept a  man  rise  out  of  the  lower  states  of  consciousness, 
he  cannot  consciously  realize  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the 
spiritual  state  of  man.  "Except  a  man  be  born  of 
water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  King- 
dom of  God"  (John  3:5). 

"Jezebel  cut  off  the  prophets  of  the  Lord";  it  is 
written  that  she  waged  a  campaign  of  extermination 
against  the  teachers  and  prophets  of  Israel.  Obadiah 
was  the  governor  of  Ahab's  house;  and  it  is  said  that 
"he  feared  the  Lord  greatly";  and  that  he  hid  prophets 
in  a  cave,  and  fed  them  with  bread  and  water.  Elijah 
is  commanded  to  show  himself  to  Ahab;  and  when 
on  his  way  to  fulfill  this  divine  mission,  he  meets 
Obadiah,  who  "fell  on  his  face,  and  said,  Art  thou 
that  my  lord  Elijah?  And  Elijah  answered  him,  I  am: 
go,  tell  thy  lord,  Behold,  Elijah  is  here."  Obadiah  is 
dumbfounded;  he  falls  on  his  face;  he  is  fearful  of  his 
life;  he  tells  Elijah  that  his  lord  has  hunted  for  him 
far  and  near.  "  There  is  no  nation  or  kingdom,  whither 
my  lord  hath  not  sent  to  seek  thee.  .  .  And  now  thou 
sayest,  Go,  tell  thy  lord,  Behold  Elijah  is  here."  Obad- 
iah is  afraid  to  bear  Elijah's  message  to  his  lord;  for  if 
he  delivers  the  message,  and  Elijah  is  not  found;  he  is 
destined  to  die.  "So  when  I  come  and  tell  Ahab,  and 
he  cannot  find  thee,  he  shall  slay  me."  But  Elijah 
assures  Obadiah  that  he  will  surely  show  himself  to 
Ahab  to-day.  "And  Elijah  said,  As  the  Lord  of  hosts 
liveth,  before  whom  I  stand,  I  will  surely  show  myself 
unto  him  to-day."  The  office  of  the  prophet,  "  the  man 
of  the  Spirit,"  is  to  tell  the  truth  in  any  presence;  and 


Elijah  305 

it  is  likewise  the  duty  of  every  man;  for  the  prophet 
is  the  exampler.  "Go,  preach,  cry  out,  fear  nothing; 
raise  thy  voice  with  a  sound  loud  as  a  trumpet,  and  re- 
veal to  my  people  their  transgressions,  and  to  the  house 
of  Israel  its  iniquities"  (Isa.  58:  i;  Josh.  4:  14).  This 
recalls  the  words  of  Jesus  in  the  presence  of  Pontius 
Pilate:  "To  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause 
came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear  witness  unto 
the  truth"  (John  18:37).  This  is  the  true  mission  of 
man ;  and  he  who  disregards  it  brings  the  curse  of  Heaven 
upon  his  own  head.  Elijah  is  a  type  of  the  true  prophet 
and  teacher;  he  proclaims  the  Law,  the  Law  of  Human 
Life,  that  restores  man  to  a  right  relation  before  God. 
"Elias  shall  come,  and  restore  all  things"  (Matt.  17: 
u).  The  reformation  of  mankind  depends  first  upon 
the  restoration  of  Israel.  "Salvation  is  of  the  Jews" 
(John  4:22).  Salvation  is  of  the  regenerate.  "He  is 
a  Jew  which  is  one  inwardly;  and  circumcision  is  that 
of  the  heart"  (Rom.  2:  29). 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Ahab  saw  Elijah,  that 
Ahab  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  he  that  troubleth  Israel? 
And  Elijah  answered,  I  have  not  troubled  Israel;  but 
thou,  and  thy  father's  house,  in  that  ye  have  forsaken 
the  commandments  of  the  Lord,  and  thou  hast  followed 
Baalam."  Elijah  commands  the  king  to  gather  unto 
Mount  Carmel  the  prophets  of  Baal,  and  the  prophets, 
"which  eat  at  Jezebel's  table";  and  when  the  people 
and  the  prophets  of  Baal  were  gathered  at  Mount 
Carmel,  Elijah  said  unto  the  people,  "How  long  halt 
ye  between  two  opinions?  If  the  Lord  be  God,  follow 
him:  but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him.  And  the  people 
answered  not  a  word."  Elijah  proposed  that  two 
bullocks  be  brought;  and  the  priests  of  Baal  offer  one 
upon  an  altar;  and  he  the  other.  "And  call  ye  on  the 


306  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

name  of  your  gods,  and  I  will  call  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord:  and  the  God  that  answereth  by  fire,  let  him  be 
God.  And  the  people  answered  and  said,  It  is  well 
spoken."  And  it  is  written  that  the  priests  of  Baal 
called  upon  their  gods  from  morning  until  moon,  and 
from  mid-day  until  the  time  of  the  offering  of  the  even- 
ing sacrifice,  and  "there  was  neither  voice  nor  any 
answer,  nor  any  that  regarded."  Elijah  repaired  the 
altar  that  was  broken  down:  and  prepared  the  sacrifice 
after  the  manner  of  the  Mosaic  precepts;  and  then 
called  upon  the  name  of  Israel's  God.  "Then  the  fire 
of  the  Lord  fell,  and  consumed  the  burnt  sacrifice,  and 
the  wood,  and  the  stones,  and  the  dust,  and  licked  up 
the  water  that  was  in  the  trench." 

Elijah  tells  the  people  to  destroy  the  prophets  of 
Baal.  "Let  not  one  of  them  escape";  and  it  is  said 
that  they  were  slain  at  the  brook  of  Kishon ;  this  name 
means  "tortuous,  or  crooked."  This  is  the  fate  of  the 
wicked.  "And  Ahab  told  Jezebel  all  that  Elijah  had 
done,  and  withal  how  he  had  slain  all  the  prophets 
with  the  sword."  The  sword  is  an  ancient  symbol  of 
justice.  Elijah  destroys  the  false  prophets  and  teachers 
with  the  sword  of  heaven;  nothing  that  is  false  can 
escape  the  vengeance  of  this  almighty  sword.  At  the 
east  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  is  a  flaming  sword,  the 
symbol  of  divine  justice,  that  turns  in  every  direc- 
tion to  point  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life  (Gen.  3:3,  24). 
"The  fire  of  the  Lord  fell,  and  consumed  the  burnt 
sacrifice,  and  the  wood  and  the  stones,  and  licked  up 
the  water."  This  is  a  powerful  figure  of  speech;  it 
shows  that  the  justice  of  Heaven  suffers  no  violation 
to  go  unpunished.  The  just  make  no  compromise 
with  evil;  they  stand  ready  to  sacrifice  their  last  out- 
ward thing  in  the  cause  of  truth  and  justice.  "He 


Elijah  307 

that  hath  no  sword,  let  him  sell  his  garment,  and  buy 
one"  (Luke  22:  36). 

Elijah,  like  all  the  great,  is  the  representative  of 
the  Law;  the  Law  that  brings  every  crooked  and 
wicked  man  to  grief  at  the  brook  of  Kishon ;  the  Law 
that  exposes  sin.  "Nay,  I  had  not  known  sin,  but  by 
the  Law"  (Rom.  7:7).  Every  infraction  of  heaven's 
Law  brings  a  certain  and  adequate  punishment.  No 
offender  can  escape  his  just  punishment.  "Let  not 
one  of  them  escape."  Every  human  soul  that  would 
inherit  the  blessings  of  Heaven  must  conform  to  this 
Law;  for  it  is  the  One  Infallible  Law  of  Justice. 
"The  prophet  that  hath  my  word,  let  him  speak  my 
word  faithfully.  What  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat? 
saith  the  Lord.  Is  not  my  word  like  a  fire?  saith  the 
Lord:  and  like  a  hammer  that  breaketh  the  rocks  to 
pieces?"  (Jer.  23:28).  What  is  it  that  constitutes  a 
just  man?  Plato  said,  that  Wisdom  is  the  virtue  of 
reason,  and  that  the  head  is  the  seat  of  the  directing 
and  measuring  virtue,  since  its  office  is  to  govern; 
Valor  is  the  virtue  of  the  heart,  the  pure  in  heart  know 
no  fear;  Temperance  is  the  virtue  by  which  the  sensuous 
desires  are  restrained  and  mastered;  and  Justice  is 
the  all-inclusive  virtue  that  represents  the  poise,  the 
harmony,  and  the  perfection  of  the  human  soul,  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  Law.  Religion  is  subjective ;  it  is  realized 
in  a  soul  that  is  attuned  to  the  divine  order.  "  I  am  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life :  no  man  cometh  to  the  Fath- 
er, but  by  me"  (John  14:  6).  None  realize  the  Father- 
hood of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man  but  the  just. 
The  unjust,  the  inharmonious,  the  crooked,  are  forever 
magnifying  racial  distinctions  and  fomenting  racial 
prejudices;  and  thus  it  is  that  tribes  and  nations  are 
decimated,  or  destroyed  by  war,  famine,  and  pestilence. 


308  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Even  when  man  has  been  taught  the  lesson  of  the  Law 
and  is  found  fit  to  bear  a  sword,  and  to  do  battle  on  the 
side  of  heaven,  there  is  still  another  journey  to  be 
made,  the  most  dreadful  and  dark  in  all  human  experi- 
ence. This  journey,  this  drama  of  the  human  soul  is 
told  in  a  marvelous  way  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of 
I  Kings.  He  who  makes  this  journey  "unto  Horeb 
the  mount  of  God,"  must  go  alone;  it  is  the  ultimate 
proof  of  loyalty;  it  is  the  supreme  and  final  test  of  man's 
faith  in  God.  The  soul  of  man  must  be  upright  before 
it  can  set  forth  on  this  appalling  journey;  for  it  must 
needs  undergo  an  indescribable  agony;  for  it  is  in 
truth  a  crucifixion.  Even  the  great  Elijah,  the  eternal 
type  of  the  true  prophet,  the  custodian  of  Heaven's 
sword,  the  vindicator  of  the  Law,  the  power  and  Spirit 
of  God  made  manifest,  "the  word  made  flesh,"  was 
in  need  of  an  impulsion  to  send  him  forth  on  this  most 
dreadful  journey.  "O  my  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let 
this  cup  pass  from  me:  nevertheless  not  as  I  will,  but 
as  thou  wilt"  (Matt.  26:39).  "For  verily  I  say  unto 
you,  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  tittle  shall 
in  no  wise  pass  from  the  Law,  till  all  be  fulfilled" 
(Matt.  5:  1 8). 

The  obdurate  and  arrogant  Jezebel  is  the  outward 
and  visible  cause  of  Elijah's  journey  "unto  Horeb 
the  mount  of  God";  but  the  real  cause  has  to  do  with 
Elijah's  soul;  it  is  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law;  it  seems 
to  be  a  necessary  and  final  ordeal  that  must  be  passed 
by  every  true  prophet.  It  is  written  that  two  of  Jesus' 
disciples  journeyed  to  Emmaus  (Luke  24: 13-27), 
and  that  they  met  their  Master  who  rebuked  their 
stupidity,  and  said:  "O  fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to 
believe  all  that  the  prophets  have  spoken:  Ought  not 
Christ  to  have  suffered  these  things,  and  to  enter  into 


Elijah  309 

his  glory?  And  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the 
prophets,  he  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures 
the  things  concerning  himself."  The  Scriptures  are 
psychological;  they  announce  principles,  "things  con- 
cerning" every  human  soul  alike.  If  the  human  soul 
is  an  existing  fact,  and  its  evolution  is  controlled  by 
fixed  principles  taught  in  the  Scriptures  (and  that  it 
should  not  be  so  controlled  is  unthinkable),  then  it 
must  follow  that  these  principles  must  find  absolute 
fulfillment  in  every  human  soul  that  would  attain  to 
its  true  inheritance;  therefore  the  Scriptures  announce 
"things  concerning"  your  soul,  and  mine. 

"Moses  led  the  flock  to.  the  back  side  of  the  desert, 
and  came  to  the  mountain  of  God,  even  to  Horeb. 
And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  a 
flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  a  bush"  (Ex.  3:  I,  2). 
By  this  we  understand  that  Moses  drank  the  cup  of 
adversity  to  its  dregs;  that  he  was  crucified  to  the 
world.  The  desert,  or  wilderness,  is  a  symbol  of 
provocation,  of  trial,  and  of  suffering  (Ps.  95 : 8 ;  Ex. 
17:2,  7;  Deut.  8:2,  3).  Moses  went  to  the  back  side 
of  the  desert,  "even  to  Horeb."  Moses  stood  in  the 
presence  of  the  divine  fire,  the  fire  that  consumes  the 
sacrifice,  that  vindicates  the  Law  of  Heaven.  Can  any 
human  soul  go  farther  than  the  back  side  of  the  desert, 
"even  to  Horeb?" 

When  Ahab  told  Jezebel  all  that  Elijah  had  done, 
and  how  he  had  slain  with  the  sword  all  the  prophets  of 
Baal,  Jezebel  sent  a  messenger  to  Elijah,  saying,  "So 
let  the  gods  do  to  me,  and  more  also,  if  I  make  not  thy 
life  as  the  life  of  one  of  them  by  to-morrow  about  this 
time"  (i  Kings  19:2).  This  is  the  outward  and 
visible  cause  that  is  said  to  have  sent  Elijah  to  the 
mount  of  God,  "even  to  Horeb."  For  it  is  written 


310  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

that  he  arose,  and  went  for  his  life,  and  came  to  Beer- 
sheba,  "and  he  left  his  servant  there."  The  name 
Beersheba  means  the  seventh  well.  A  well  is  a  symbol 
of  knowledge.  Elijah  is  a  Master  in  Israel;  he  drinks 
at  the  last  well  of  human  knowledge.  He  leaves  his 
servant  at  the  well ;  but  he  himself  went  a  day's  journey 
into  the  wilderness,  and  came  and  sat  under  a  juniper 
tree;  and  he  requested  for  himself  that  he  might  die. 
This  is  the  story  of  the  prophet.  "O  Lord,  take,  I 
beseech  thee,  my  life  from  me ;  for  it  is  better  for  me 
to  die  than  to  live"  (Jonah  4 13).  "No  sign  shall  be 
given,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas"  (Matt.  12: 
39).  The  Scriptures  teach  that  every  human  soul 
which  is  consciously  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the 
spiritual  kingdom,  must  die  to  the  animal  kingdom  of 
the  world;  every  such  soul  must  experience  "an  horror 
of  great  darkness"  (Gen.  15:  12).  Man  must  die  to  the 
sensuous  animal  world,  if  he  would  be  born  into  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  The  cross  of  Christ  is  a  symbol  of 
the  crucifixion  of  the  world,  the  soul's  death  to  the 
carnal  world.  "God  forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save 
in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the 
world  is  crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world  "  (Gal. 
6:  14). 

Evelyn  -Underbill  in  her  book  Mysticism  makes  some 
very  interesting  observations  on  what  we  may  call  the 
supreme  psychological  experience  so  often  described 
and  explained  in  the  Scriptures.  In  the  chapter  entitled 
"The  Dark  Night  of  the  Soul,"  she  says:  "Psycho- 
logically, then,  the  'Dark  Night'  of  the  soul  is  due  to 
the  double  fact  of  the  exhaustion  of  an  old  state,  and 
the  growth  toward  a  new  state  of  consciousness." 
The  breaking  up  of  the  old  state,  that  precedes  the 
advent  of  the  new,  may  be  likened  to  a  storm,  an  earth- 


Elijah  311 

quake,  and  a  fire.  This  psychological  change  by  which 
man  is  said  to  be  "turned  into  another  man"  (i  Sam. 
10:  6)  seems  to  be  twice  told  in  the  first  book  of  Kings. 
It  is  first  told  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  and  again 
in  the  chapter  before  us,  the  nineteenth  of  the  same 
book.  It  is  written  that  as  Elijah  slept  under  a  juni- 
per tree,  an  angel  touched  him,  and  said,  Arise  and 
eat ;  and  he  did  eat  and  drink ;  and  that  the  angel  of 
the  Lord  came  the  second  time,  and  touched  him,  and 
said,  Arise  and  eat;  because  the  journey  is  too  great  for 
thee.  Elijah  is  given  a  double  portion  of  the  food  and 
drink  of  Heaven ;  because  the  journey  is  too  great  for 
him. 

This  chapter  seems  to  be  a  summing  up  of  the  life  of 
Elijah;  it  is  said  that  he  went  in  the  strength  of  this 
meat  forty  days  and  forty  nights  unto  Horeb  the 
mount  of  God.  The  phrase,  "forty  days  and  forty 
nights, "  does  not  represent  as  we  believe,  a  fixed  period 
of  time,  but  it  does  represent  a  period  of  chastening  and 
discipline,  of  trial  and  suffering,  the  dark  night  of  the 
soul,  the  "horror  of  great  darkness."  Elijah  journeys 
to  Horeb;  and  it  is  here  that  his  whole  life  passes  in 
review  before  him.  And  the  word  of  the  Lord  came 
unto  him,  saying,  "What  doest  thou  here,  Elijah? 
And  he  said,  I  have  been  very  jealous  for  the  Lord  God 
of  hosts:  for  the  children  of  Israel  have  forsaken  thy 
covenant";  and  then  he  is  commanded  to  stand  upon 
the  mount;  and  then  it  was  that  a  great  and  strong 
wind  rent  the  mountain,  and  break  in  pieces  the  rocks; 
but  the  Lord  was  not  in  the  wind;  and  after  the  wind 
an  earthquake,  but  the  Lord  was  not  in  the  earthquake ; 
and  after  the  earthquake  a  fire,  but  the  Lord  was  not 
in  the  fire :  and  after  the  fire  a  still  small  voice.  This  is 
the  story  of  the  human  soul.  "It  is  appointed  unto 


312  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

man  once  to  die  [to  the  world] ;  and  after  this  the  judg- 
ment, "  the  crisis,  the  dark  night  (Heb.  9:  27).  "Behold, 
I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet  before  the  coming 
of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord"  (Mai. 

4:5). 

Elijah  after  hearing  the  still  small  voice  is  again 
asked  the  question,  "What  doest  thou  here,  Elijah?" 
And  he  answers  as  he  did  before,  saying,  "I  have  been 
very  jealous  for  the  Lord  God  of  hosts:  because  the 
children  of  Israel  have  forsaken  thy  covenant,  thrown 
down  thine  altars,  and  slain  thy  prophets  with  the 
sword;  and  I,  even  I  only  am  left;  and  they  seek  my 
life  to  take  it  away."  The  Scriptures  occasionally 
emphasize  a  truth  by  repeating  the  same  question  and 
answer.  Why  is  Elijah  at  Horeb,  the  mount  of  God? 
It  is  because  of  his  fidelity  to  the  Law.  "Elias  for 
being  zealous  and  fervent  for  the  Law  was  taken  up  into 
Heaven"  (i  Mace.  2:58).  The  great  Moses,  the  ser- 
vant of  God,  centuries  before  the  coming  of  Elijah,  led 
his  flock  to  the  back  side  of  the  desert  to  the  mount 
of  God,  even  to  Horeb;  and  was  there  commissioned 
of  Heaven  to  lead  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  a  state  of 
carnal  bondage,  sin,  and  death;  and  to  teach  them 
precepts,  and  the  Law  of  Human  Life. 

This  drama  of  the  soul's  evolution  points  the  way  of 
salvation.  The  soul  that  would  hear  "the  still  small 
voice"  must  pass  by  the  seventh  well.  It  must  journey 
into  the  desert ;  it  must  there  be  fed  upon  the  bread  of 
Heaven;  it  must  be  tried  and  tempted,  and  "led  by  a 
way  that  the  raven's  eye  hath  not  seen."  It  must 
experience  the  rigors  of  the  Law:  the  storm,  the  earth- 
quake, and  the  fire.  "  Is  not  my  word  like  a  fire  and  a 
hammer?  "  (Jer.  23 : 29) .  It  must  continue  its  search  for 
God  to  the  back  side  of  the  desert  to  the  mount  of  God, 


Elijah  313 

even  to  Horeb.  It  must  seek  the  solitude  of  the  cave, 
and  wrap  a  mantle  about  itself  to  exclude  all  discord 
from  without,  if  it  would  hear  the  still  small  voice. 
"When  man  has  ceased  to  hear  the  many,"  said 
Madam  Blavatsky,  "he  may  discern  the  One.  .  .  . 
For  then  the  soul  will  hear,  and  will  remember.  And 
then  to  the  inner  ear  will  speak  the  Voice  of  the  Silence" 
(Professor  James's  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience, 
p.  421).  For  God  speaks  from  within,  and  not  from 
without.  Man  communes  with  God  above  the  mercy 
seat,  over  his  heart,  in  the  Holy  of  Holies.  Perfection 
of  character  comes  of  a  belief  in  the  Lord  God  of  Israel ; 
and  of  a  jealous  regard  for  Him  and  His  Law.  "For 
he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  he  is,  and  that 
he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him" 
(Heb.  II :  6).  Every  man  who  abandons  the  sensuous 
spirit  of  the  world,  every  man  who  has  a  jealous  regard 
for  truth  and  justice,  is  in  the  way  of  salvation,  and 
of  restoration;  every  such  a  one  represents  in  some 
measure  the  power  and  spirit  of  Elias.  "Elias  must 
first  come  and  restore  all  things"  (Matt.  17:11). 
"The  children  of  the  promise  are  counted  for  the  seed" 
(Rom.  9:9).  The  restoration  of  Israel  is  the  precedent 
condition  necessary  to  the  salvation  of  mankind. 

In  the  concluding  portion  of  the  nineteenth  chapter 
of  I  Kings,  it  is  written  that  Elijah,  like  Moses  of 
old,  is  commissioned  at  Horeb  to  do  certain  things,  to 
wit :  he  is  to  anoint  Hazael  to  be  king  over  Syria,  and 
Jehu  to  be  king  over  Israel,  and  he  is  also  to  anoint 
Elisha  to  be  a  prophet  in  the  place  of  himself.  The 
faithful,  the  fervent,  the  valorous  who  go  to  the  back  side 
of  the  desert  are  the  masters  and  saviors  of  mankind. 
"And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  him  that  escapeth 
the  sword  of  Hazael  shall  Jehu  slay:  and  him  that 


314  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

escapeth  from  the  sword  of  Jehu  shall  Elisha  slay" 
(i  Kings  19:  17).  This  is  a  strange  way  of  saying  that 
justice  shall  in  no  event  be  defeated.  He  who  escapes 
justice  at  the  hand  of  Hazael  shall  Jehu  slay;  and  he  who 
escapes  Jehu  shall  Elisha  slay.  "Have  I  not  hewed 
them  by  the  prophets;  I  have  slain  them  by  the  words 
of  my  mouth"  (Hosea  6:5).  Hazael,  the  king  of  a 
Gentile  people,  Jehu,  a  king  of  Israel,  and  Elisha,  a 
prophet,  represent  varying  degrees  of  justice:  quasi- 
justice,  justice  approximating  the  true,  and  even  an 
exact  justice. 

Psychology  has  been  defined  as  "The  science  of 
behavior,  of  conduct."  Prof.  George  Herbert  Palmer, 
Alford  Professor  of  Philosophy  in  Harvard  University, 
in  his  interesting  little  book:  The  Nature  of  Goodness, 
says: 

Conduct  has  three  stages,  not  two.  Let  us  get  them 
clearly  in  mind.  At  the  beginning  of  life  we  are  at  the 
beck  and  call  of  every  impulse,  not  having  yet  attained 
reflective  command  of  ourselves.  This  first  stage  we  may 
rightly  call  that  of  nature  or  of  unconsciousness,  and  mani- 
festly most  of  us  continue  in  it  to  some  extent  and  as 
regards  certain  tracts  of  action  throughout  life.  Then 
reflection  is  aroused;  we  become  aware  of  what  we  are 
doing.  The  many  details  of  each  act  and  the  relations 
which  surround  it  come  separately  into  conscious  attention 
for  assessment,  approval,  or  rejection.  This  is  the  stage 
of  spirit,  or  consciousness.  But  it  is  not  the  final  stage. 
As  we  have  seen  in  our  example,  a  stage  is  possible  when 
action  runs  swiftly  to  its  intended  end,  but  with  little  need  of 
conscious  supervision.  This  mechanized,  purposeful  action 
presents  conduct  in  its  third  stage,  that  of  second  nature  or 
negative  consciousness.  As  this  third  is  least  understood, 
is  often  confused  with  the  first,  and  yet  is  in  reality  the 


Elijah  315 

complete  expression  of  the  moral  ideal  and  of  that  reconcilia- 
tion of  nature  and  spirit  of  which  we  are  in  search,  I  will 
devote  a  few  pages  to  its  explanation. 

Professor  Palmer  learnedly  discusses  that  habitual, 
or  involuntary  justice  which  is  made  manifest  in  him 
whose  soul  is  attuned  to  the  divine  order,  and  of  which 
Jesus  spoke.  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  When 
thou  wast  young,  thou  girdest  thyself,  and  walkedst 
whither  thou  wouldst:  but  when  thou  shalt  be  old,  thou 
shalt  stretch  forth  thy  hands,  and  another  shall  gird 
thee,  and  carry  thee  whither  thou  wouldst  not"  (John 
21:18). 

And  it  is  written  that  as  Elijah  went  on  his  way 
to  fulfill  his  divine  mission  that  he  found  Elisha,  "who 
was  plowing  with  twelve  yoke  of  oxen  before  him,  and 
he  with  the  twelfth:  and  Elijah  passed  by  him,  and  cast 
his  mantle  upon  him."  Elisha  is  a  master;  he  is  pre- 
pared to  receive  the  mantle  of  Elijah ;  for  he  that  plows 
with  the  twelfth  yoke  leads  the  way.  Twelve  is  a 
number  expressive  of  perfection.  The  oxen,  a  symbol 
of  life  and  power,  are  "before  Elisha."  "If  a  man 
shall  be  good,  his  righteousness  shall  go  before  him; 
if  wicked,  the  reward  of  his  wickedness  shall  follow 
him  "  (Barnabas  3 : 14 ;  Isa.  58 :  8 ;  Prov.  1 1 :  6) .  Elisha, 
when  honored  of  Elijah,  "took  a  yoke  of  oxen,  and  slew 
them,  and  boiled  their  flesh  with  the  instruments  of  the 
oxen,  and  gave  unto  the  people,  and  they  did  eat. 
Then  he  arose  and  went  after  Elijah,  and  ministered 
unto  him."  "The  instruments  of  the  oxen,"  it  would 
seem,  represent  precepts,  commands,  and  inhibitions; 
and  the  flesh  of  the  oxen  principles.  Paul  speaks 
of  those  who  are  in  need  of  milk,  who  are  governed  of 
precepts;  and  also  of  those  "that  are  of  full  age,"  who 


The  Law  of  Human  Life 


can  discern  both  good  and  evil,  and  who  are  fit  to  be 
fed  on  meat  (Heb.  5:  12-14).  "As  an  angel  of  God, 
so  is  the  lord  my  king,  to  discern  good  and  evil"  (2 
Sam.  14:  17).  "The  instruments  of  the  oxen"  are 
necessary  to  their  restraint  and  guidance,  as  precepts 
are  necessary  for  the  restraint  and  guidance  of  the 
lawless  and  ungodly.  The  man  who  is  governed  of 
reason  and  conscience  is  governed  of  God.  Reason 
and  conscience  represent  the  all-seeing  eye  of  God. 
"I  will  instruct  thee  and  teach  thee  in  the  way  which 
thou  shalt  go:  I  will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye.  Be 
ye  not  as  the  horse,  or  as  the  mule,  which  have  no  under- 
standing: whose  mouth  must  be  held  in  with  bit  and 
bridle,  lest  they  come  near  unto  thee"  (Ps.  32:8,  9). 
The  instruments  of  the  oxen,  like  the  bit  and  bridle 
represent  precepts;  it  is  therefore  apparent  that  Elisha 
taught  precepts  to  the  foolish,  and  principles  to  them 
"that  were  of  full  age." 

It  appears  that  the  prophet  Elijah  called  the  wicked 
king  Ahab  to  account  on  more  than  one  occasion. 
"And  Ahab  said  unto  Elijah,  Hast  thou  found  me,  O 
mine  enemy?  And  Elijah  answered,  I  have  found  thee  : 
because  thou  hast  sold  thyself  to  work  evil  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord."  Ahab  regards  Elijah  as  his  deadly  enemy. 
The  just  are  the  terror  of  the  unjust.  It  is  the  will  of 
Heaven  that  all  evil  shall  be  exposed  and  punished; 
"  I  have  found  thee  "  ;  the  fate  of  Ahab  is  the  fate  of  all 
the  unjust.  Elijah  appalls  Ahab;  he  tells  him  to  his 
face  what  he  is,  and  that  utter  destruction  will  overtake 
him  unless  he  repents  of  his  evil  ways,  and  humbles 
himself  before  God.  Ahab  evidently  believed  the 
prophet,  for  it  is  written  that  he  did  humble  himself 
(i  Kings  21  129).  Elijah  also  reads  the  doom  of  the 
unreasoning  and  rebellious  Jezebel,  who  "stirred  up" 


Elijah  317 

Ahab  to  work  wickedness  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord. 
"The  dogs  shall  eat  Jezebel  by  the  wall  of  Jezreel" 
(i  Kings  21 :  23).  Jezreel  means  "abandoned  of  God." 
Jezebel  is  abandoned  and  given  over  to  her  unrestrained 
animal  passions  and  desires ;  she  goes  to  the  limit,  to  the 
wall;  and  these  ungoverned  desires  and  passions  are  the 
dogs  that  destroy  her  at  the  wall  of  Jezreel. 

The  tragic  end  of  the  voluptuous  Jezebel  recalls 
the  story  of  Elisha  recorded  in  the  second  chapter  of 
2  Kings,  where  it  is  written  that  Elisha,  when  on 
his  way  to  Bethel  (the  house  of  God,  the  Kingdom  of 
God)  is  confronted  by  little  children  who  mocked  him, 
and  said,  "Go  up,  thou  bald  head";  and  that  he  cursed 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  and  that  two  she-bears 
came  out  of  the  wood,  and  tare  forty  and  two  of  them. 
The  people  here  spoken  of  are  called  little  children  be- 
cause they  have  no  more  mentality  than  little  children ; 
because  they  have  no  moral  sense;  because  they  are  the 
victims  of  their  unrestrained  passions  and  desires;  and 
because  they  are  more  animal  than  human;  and  their 
evil  passions  and  desires  that  rend  and  destroy  them 
are  likened  to  she-bears.  The  just  man,  the  man  of 
God,  is  always  the  object  of  mockery,  of  ridicule, 
and  of  persecution  by  such  people.  Cain  did  violence 
to  Abel;  Ishmael  mocked  Isaac;  and  Esau  persecuted 
Jacob.  The  blessings  of  Heaven  are  promised  to  the 
spiritual  man,  the  man  that  acts  in  obedience  to  reason 
and  conscience;  and  the  curse  of  Heaven  is  laid  upon 
the  animal  man,  the  mocker,  the  envious,  the  malicious, 
the  revengeful,  the  cruel.  The  animal  nature  of  man 
must  be  sacrificed  if  he  would  attain  to  his  true  in- 
heritance. When  Elisha  cursed  the  wicked  children 
"in  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  he  was  pronouncing 
the  curse  that  righteousness  forever  lays  at  the  door 


3i 8  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  the  sensual,  the  voluptuous,  and  the  animalized. 
"How  shall  I  curse,  whom  God  hath  not  cursed?  or 
how  shall  I  defy,  whom  the  Lord  hath  not  defied?" 
(Num.  23:  8).  This  story  is  an  allegory  in  the  form  of 
history;  and  it  teaches  profound  psychological  truths 
in  a  concise  way.  These,  and  like  Scriptures,  are  not 
to  be  interpreted  according  to  the  literal  acceptation 
of  the  words  used,  but  in  a  manner  consistent  with 
reason  and  experience;  for  it  is  self-evident  that  the 
evil  passions  of  men  rend  and  destroy  them.  The 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  properly  speaking  is  not  a  place; 
it  is  a  holy  state  of  consciousness;  to  go  to  Heaven,  is  to 
attain  to  the  real,  the  eternal,  the  abiding ;  it  is  to  find 
peace  and  rest  within  the  soul  itself.  They  who  attain 
to  this  high  and  holy  state  are  said  to  have  access  to 
the  tree  of  life,  the  Source  of  Being;  but  the  corrupt  and 
debauched,  likened  to  dogs,  are  said  to  be  "without." 
"Blessed  are  they  that  do  God's  commandments,  that 
they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter 
through  the  gates  into  the  city.  For  without  are 
dogs  and  sorcerers"  (Rev.  22: 14,  15). 

Elijah  comes  to  restore  Israel,  to  restore  the  Law; 
he  is  true  to  his  great  office;  he  makes  no  compromise 
with  evil;  he  exposes  and  condemns  the  wickedness  of 
the  people ;  and  the  first  that  he  exposes  and  condemns 
are  those  in  high  places:  the  rulers  and  the  priests; 
"let  not  one  of  them  escape."  He  comes  proclaiming 
Heaven's  justice  symbolized  by  the  sword.  "Therefore 
I  hewed  them  by  the  prophets"  (Hosea  6:5).  He 
flays  the  King  and  Queen  of  Israel  without  mercy; 
and  the  false  prophets  and  teachers  he  utterly  destroys. 
He  stands  unqualifiedly  for  the  Law;  he  restores  the 
Law;  and  like  all  the  great,  he  is  a  terror  to  evil-doers. 
"  Salvation  is  of  the  Jews" ;  salvation  is  of  the  regenerate. 


Elijah  319 

"Elijah  must  first  come,  and  restore  all  things."  The 
people  "feared  Joshua,  as  they  feared  Moses,  all  the 
days  of  his  life"  (Josh.  4:  14).  "Go,  preach,  cry  out, 
fear  nothing,  raise  thy  voice  with  a  sound  loud  as  the 
trumpet,  and  reveal  to  my  people  their  transgressions 
and  to  the  house  of  Israel  its  iniquities"  (Isa.  58:  i). 
"Set  thy  face  toward  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  thine 
arm  shall  be  uncovered"  (Ezek.  4:7).  God  condemns 
evil;  He  "testifies  against  the  unjust  by  His  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  the  just"  (Neh.  9:30;  Zech. 
7:  12;  Micah  3:8).  "He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen 
the  Father"  (John  14:9).  The  greatest,  most  valor- 
ous, and  godlike  in  the  world,  are  they  who  speak  the 
truth  in  any  presence;  and  the  greatest  cowards  and 
fools  are  they  that  are  given  to  lying.  "For  when  the 
habit  of  speaking  the  truth  is  neglected,  the  capacity 
of  perceiving  it  is  gradually  lost."  When  the  habit  of 
speaking  the  truth  is  uniformly  observed,  the  capacity 
of  perceiving  it  is  gradually  enlarged.  "He  that  doeth 
truth  cometh  to  the  light"  (John  3:21). 

Elijah  did  not  come  with  twelve  princes,  and  seventy 
elders;  he  did  not  have  seventy  whom  he  sent  forth  as 
wolves  among  sheep,  nor  is  it  written  that  he  had 
twelve  disciples.  Moses  and  Jesus  sought  to  perfect 
an  organization  of  self-governing  people,  who  should 
make  manifest  in  their  lives  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
and  who  should  form  a  nucleus  for  the  reformation 
of  all  mankind.  Every  soul  which  is  just  and  upright 
before  God  is  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  is  an 
organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  governed  of  God,  and  not 
of  men.  "And  Gideon  said  unto  the  Israelites,  I  will 
not  rule  over  you,  neither  shall  my  son  rule  over  you: 
the  Lord  shall  rule  over  you"  (Judges  8:  23). 

Every  one  who  bears  the  sword  of  justice,  every  one 


320  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

who  is  constrained  to  speak  the  truth  fearlessly  in  any 
presence,  belongs  to  the  Elias  ministry.  They  who 
belong  to  this  ministry  are  the  preachers  of  righteous- 
ness; they  admonish  all  men  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come,  to  abandon  their  evil  ways ;  in  a  word,  they  preach 
repentance;  they  seek  to  turn  men  from  sin  and  death 
to  the  way  of  life,  truth,  wisdom,  and  justice.  They 
of  this  ministry  seek  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the  people 
"to  the  wisdom  of  the  just,  and  to  prepare  a  people  for 
the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord" 
(Luke  1:17;  Mai.  4:5).  Their  work  is  preliminary; 
repentance  is  the  first  step  in  the  reformation  of  man. 
He  repents  who  abandons  the  sensuous  life,  the  spirit 
of  the  world,  and  cultivates  the  virtues.  "Elias  must 
first  come  and  restore  all  things."  The  restoration 
here  spoken  of  finds  fulfillment  in  the  restoration  of  the 
individual.  Evil,  like  righteousness,  is  personal.  The 
call  to  repentance  is  addressed  to  the  individual. 
Elijah  waged  his  campaign  for  the  restoration  of 
Israel  against  individuals:  Ahab,  Jezebel,  and  the 
false  prophets.  "Let  not  one  of  them  escape." 

Elijah  comes  to  restore  the  service  and  the  worship 
of  the  One  Almighty  God,  to  restore  the  faithful  observ- 
ance of  the  Law  of  Human  Life,  the  Law  that  attunes 
the  soul  of  man  to  the  Divine  Order.  The  Divine  Order 
is  to  all  conceivable  order  of  human  invention  as  the 
sun-dial  is  to  the  clock.  Error  is  corrected  by  an  appeal 
to  the  Divine  Order;  it  is  the  ultimate  and  unerring 
criterion  of  Truth.  The  clock  is  at  hand;  it  may  be 
consulted  day  or  night ;  but  the  dial  is  only  of  use  when 
the  sun  shines  on  it.  Nature  is  read  in  the  light  of 
itself.  The  clock  may  err,  and  need  to  be  corrected 
by  the  dial,  the  unerring  register  of  the  earth's  diurnal 
rotation ;  and  thus  the  appeal  is  forever  from  the  artificial 


Elijah  321 

to  the  natural.  The  great  are  they  who  are  forever 
calling  us  back  from  the  artificial,  the  fanciful,  and  the 
passing  to  the  abiding,  the  permanent,  the  eternal,  the 
natural. 

We  read  in  the  Scriptures  of  Hell  or  Gehenna,  and 
of  Hades  or  Sheol,  and  of  Heaven  or  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  The  misconception  and  misuse  of  these  words 
have  led  to  great  confusion  in  the  consideration  of  the 
Scriptures.  These  words  are  descriptive  of  mental 
states. 

The  children  of  the  flesh  are  they  who  live  the  sensual 
life ;  their  mentality  is  on  the  plane  of  the  lower  principle 
of  the  soul,  on  the  plane  designated  by  the  sign  Scorpio. 
"These  are  not  the  children  of  God"  (Rom.  9:8). 
They  who  live  on  this  plane  of  consciousness  are  con- 
stantly led  in  every  direction  except  the  right  one, 
because  of  their  unrestrained  and  unconquered  animal 
traits:  envy,  hate,  falsehood,  hypocrisy,  greed,  lust, 
malice,  revenge,  and  murder.  These  are  some  of  the 
dogs  and  she-bears  that  rend  them;  and  they  who  live 
in  this  state  are  said  to  be  in  Hell  or  Gehenna.  They  are 
described  in  the  Scriptures  as  dead  because  they  have 
no  real  knowledge  of  the  spiritual  kingdom,  the  kingdom 
of  Life,  Truth,  Wisdom,  Love,  and  Justice.  They  on 
this  plane  represent  man  fallen,  mentality  at  its  nadir, 
and  are  forever  crucifying  the  Lord  of  Wisdom  and  of 
Righteousness  (Rev.  11:8).  According  to  the  sym- 
bolism of  the  Scriptures,  they  are  said  to  abide  in  Egypt 
and  Sodom.  "The  strength  of  Pharaoh  shall  be  your 
shame,  and  your  trust  in  the  shadow  of  Egypt  your 
confusion"  (Isa.3o:3).  "Every  shepherd  is  an  abomina- 
tion to  the  Egyptians  "  (Gen.  46 :  34) .  Every  man  who  is 
faithful  to  reason,  every  just  man,  who  tells  the  Egyp- 
tians of  their  wicked  and  fallen  state  is  at  once  the  object 


322  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  their  contempt  and  loathing.  "And  Ahab  said  unto 
Elijah,  Hast  thou  found  me,  O  mine  enemy."  They 
who  are  faithful  representatives  of  the  Elias  ministry 
carry  their  campaign  of  righteousness  into  hell,  into 
Sodom  and  Egypt.  But  the  true  theater  of  the  prophet 
is  the  desert,  or  wilderness;  for  it  is  there  that  man  is 
taught  the  strait  and  narrow  way  (Matt.  7:  14).  Man's 
religious  education  begins  with  his  abandonment  of 
Egypt  and  Sodom. 

The  Hebrew  word  Sheol,  and  the  Greek  word  Hades 
are  synonymous  in  meaning.  They  describe  a  mediate 
state  of  consciousness  which  is  represented  by  those 
who  have  abandoned  Egypt  and  Sodom.  It  would 
seem  that  an  office  of  the  Elias  ministry  is  to  lead  men 
out  of  Egypt  by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea.  They  who 
were  led  out  of  Egypt  "were  all  baptized  unto  Moses 
in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea;  and  did  eat  of  the  same 
spiritual  meat;  and  did  drink  of  the  same  spiritual 
drink;  for  they  drank  of  that  spiritual  Rock  that 
attended  them;  and  that  Rock  was  Christ."  When 
men  abandon  the  Egyptian  life,  when  they  act  in 
obedience  to  wisdom  and  truth,  then  it  is  said  that 
they  eat  the  same  spiritual  meat,  and  drink  the  same 
spiritual  Rock.  Rock  is  a  symbol  of  character,  of 
Faith  and  of  Righteousness.  Faith  and  righteousness 
are  synonymous  words.  Man  has  as  much  faith  as 
righteousness,  and  as  much  righteousness  as  faith. 
"Upon  this  Rock  I  build  my  Church  [the  fraternity 
of  the  Just],  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
it"  (Matt.  16:  18).  They  have  repented  of  their  sins 
who  have  abandoned  the  sensuous  life,  and  live  clean 
and  decent  lives.  They  who  have  attained  to  the 
mediate  state,  represented  by  Sheol  or  Hades,  are  said 
to  abide  in  the  desert;  they  have  escaped  the  Gentile 


Elijah  323 

state;  they  are  Israelites  all.  The  sacrifices  of  Israel 
are  first  made  in  the  desert.  "  Let  us  go,  we  pray  thee, 
three  days'  journey  into  the  desert,  and  sacrifice  unto 
the  Lord  our  God"  (Ex.  5:3). 

"John  the  Baptist  came  preaching  in  the  wilderness 
of  Judaea.  And  saying,  Repent  ye:  for  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  is  at  hand."  John  belonged  to  the  Elias 
ministry.  "The  Law  and  the  prophets  were  until 
John :  since  that  time  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  preached, 
and  every  man  passeth  into  it"  (Luke  16:  16).  This 
language  we  would  interpret  as  follows:  The  precepts 
of  the  Law  as  given  by  the  prophets  were  fulfilled 
with  the  baptism  of  John;  and  to  those  who  are  thus 
prepared,  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  preached,  and  every 
man  passeth  into  it  who  is  baptized  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  with  fire.  "It  is  easier  for  heaven  and 
earth  to  pass  than  one  tittle  of  the  Law  to  fail"  (Luke 
16:  17). 

First  in  order  is  the  ministration  of  the  outward 
offices  of  the  Law  by  the  Elias  ministry,  and  lastly 
comes  the  writing  of  the  Law  within  the  heart.  The 
two  states  of  consciousness  above  described  may  be 
called  the  Egyptian  and  the  desert,  and  they  are 
contrasted  in  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus ; 
the  rich  man  is  said  to  be  in  hell,  and  Lazarus  is  afar 
off  in  Abraham's  bosom.  The  rich  man  lives  the 
luxurious  and  sensuous  life,  and  is,  therefore,  a  Gentile ; 
Lazarus  repented;  he  turned  away  from  the  Egyptian 
life,  he  passed  into  the  mediate  state,  he  reposed  in  the 
bosom  of  Abraham,  and  is,  therefore,  an  Israelite. 

The  third  and  higher  state  of  human  consciousness 
is  called  the  Heavenly ;  it  represents  the  soul  of  man  in  a 
condition  of  serenity  and  peace.  It  represents  wisdom 
at  the  summit  of  the  temple,  faithful  to  its  every  office 


324  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

and  a  heart  so  pure  and  valorous  as  to  know  no  fear; 
and  the  loins  girded  and  subservient  to  wisdom.  In  a 
word,  the  Heavenly  state  of  consciousness  represents 
the  principles  of  the  soul  in  such  a  condition  of  harmony, 
unity,  and  balance,  that  the  soul  is  the  conscious  organ 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Such  a  soul  is  said  to  be  just  and 
upright  before  God.  Justice  is  the  sum  of  all  the  virtues 
since  it  represents  the  soul's  perfection.  They  who  are 
born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit  pass  into  the  promised 
land,  a  symbol  of  Heaven,  on  the  third  day  (Josh. 
1:11).  "Elias  for  being  zealous  and  fervent  for  the 
Law  was  taken  up  into  heaven"  (i  Mace.  2:58). 
Elias  by  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law  attained  to  a 
consciousness  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

William  Ellery  Channing,  in  a  discourse  at  the 
installation  of  the  Rev.  M.  I.  Motte  in  1828,  said: 

That  word  hell,  which  is  used  so  seldom  in  the  sacred 
pages,  which  in  a  faithful  translation  would  not  occur  in 
the  writings  of  Paul,  and  Peter,  and  John,  which  we  meet 
only  in  four  or  five  discourses  of  Jesus,  and  which  all  persons 
acquainted  with  Jewish  geography  know  to  be  a  metaphor, 
a  figure  of  speech,  and  not  a  literal  expression,  this  word, 
by  a  perverse  and  exaggerated  use,  has  done  unspeakable 
injury  to  Christianity.  It  has  possessed  and  diseased  men's 
imaginations  with  outward  torture,  shrieks,  and  flames; 
given  them  an  idea  of  an  outward  ruin  as  what  they  have 
chiefly  to  dread ;  turned  their  thoughts  to  Jesus,  as  an  out- 
ward deliverer;  and  thus  blinded  them  to  his  true  glory, 
which  consists  in  his  setting  free  and  exalting  the  soul. 
Men  are  flying  from  an  outward  hell,  when  in  truth  they 
carry  within  them  the  hell  which  they  should  chiefly 
dread.  .  .  .  There  is  something  far  worse  than  outward 
punishment.  It  is  sin;  it  is  the  state  of  a  soul,  which  has 
revolted  from  God,  and  cast  off  its  allegiance  to  conscience 


Elijah  325 

and  the  divine  word;  which  renounces  its  Father,  and 
hardens  itself  against  Infinite  Love;  which,  endued  with 
divine  powers,  enthralls  itself  in  animal  lusts;  which  makes 
gain  its  god ;  which  has  capacities  of  boundless  and  ever- 
growing love,  and  shuts  itself  up  in  the  dungeon  of  private 
interests;  which,  gifted  with  self -directing  power,  consents 
to  be  a  slave,  and  is  passively  formed  by  custom,  opinion, 
and  changing  events;  which,  living  under  God's  eye,  dreads 
man's  frown  or  scorn,  and  prefers  human  praise  to  its 
own  calm  consciousness  of  virtue;  which  tamely  yields  to 
temptation,  shrinks  with  a  coward's  baseness  from  the 
perils  of  duty,  and  sacrifices  its  glory  and  peace  in  parting 
with  self-control.  No  ruin  can  be  compared  to  this. 
This  the  impenitent  man  carries  with  him  beyond  the 
grave,  and  there  meets  its  natural  issue,  and  inevitable 
retribution,  in  remorse,  self-torture,  and  woes  unknown 
on  earth.  This  we  cannot  too  strongly  fear.  ."  .  .  How 
slowly  men  learn  that  Heaven  is  the  perfection  of  the 
mind.  .  .  .  Heaven  is  the  freed  and  sanctified  Mind. 

Dr.  Channing's  words  that  "Men  are  flying  from  an 
outward  hell,  when  in  truth  they  carry  within  them  the 
hell  that  they  should  dread,"  are  in  accord  with  the 
poet's  song. 

Which  way  I  fly  is  hell,  myself  am  hell, 
And  in  the  lowest  deep  a  lower  deep, 
Still  gaping  to  devour  me,  opens  wide, 
To  which  the  hell  I  suffer  seems  a  heaven. 

MILTON:    Paradise  Lost. 

Hell,  Hades,  and  Heaven  represent  states  of  conscious- 
ness. They  who  live  on  the  lower  plane  of  conscious- 
ness denominated  Hell  are  said  to  be  dead  and  in  their 
graves  awaiting  resurrection  (Ezek.  37:  12-14;  Hosea 
13:  14;  Ps.  31:  17;  30:3;  Dan.  12:2;  Ex.  12:33;  John 


326  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

5:28;  I  John  5:  16;  I  Sam.  2:9).  All  they  that  are 
in  this  fallen  state  "shall  come  forth;  they  that  have 
done  good,  unto  the  resurrection  of  life;  and  they  that 
have  done  evil  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation" 
(John  5:29).  This  awakening,  this  resurrection,  out 
of  a  state  of  carnality  and  death,  out  of  hell,  is  spoken 
of  as  an  illumination.  "But  ye  can  call  to  remem- 
brance the  former  days,  in  which,  after  ye  were  illu- 
mined, ye  endured  great  and  divers  afflictions"  (Heb. 
10:32).  The  mental  anguish,  the  "damnation," 
which  man  suffers  on  being  resurrected  out  of  a  state  of 
carnality  and  death  is  measured  by  the  evil  that  he 
has  done.  "Be  not  deceived;  God  is  not  mocked; 
for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap" 
(Gal.  6:  7). 

The  Hades,  or  mediate  state  of  consciousness  begins 
with  man's  resurrection  out  of  a  state  of  sensuality  and 
death.  Desire  is  a  craving  of  the  animal  nature  of  man 
for  things  that  afford  sensual  gratification.  Therefore, 
the  true  work  of  man,  the  work  of  the  mental  or  spiritual 
man  is  the  progressive  subjugation  of  his  sensuous  ani- 
mal nature.  The  condition  of  the  higher  life  is  a  willing- 
ness to  abandon  the  lower.  Lot,  when  told  to  abandon 
Sodom,  a  name  synonymous  with  sensuality,  "lingered  " ; 
and  when  led  out  of  Sodom,  out  of  a  state  of  death,  he 
was  given  Heaven's  unerring  command:  "Escape 
for  thy  life;  look  not  behind  thee;  neither  stay  thou 
in  the  plain;  escape  to  the  mountain,  lest  thou  be  con- 
sumed" (Gen.  19:  17).  When  Lot  abandoned  Sodom, 
he  acted  in  obedience  to  conscience  and  reason.  "The 
sun  was  risen  upon  the  earth  when  Lot  entered  Zoar" 
(Gen.  19:23).  How  little  is  made  of  those  splendid 
figures  of  speech  with  which  the  Scriptures  abound  and 
which  so  unerringly  point  the  way  of  salvation! 


Elijah  327 

Hell  represents  a  low  sensuous  state  of  conscious- 
ness. "To  be  carnally  minded  is  to  be  in  a  state  of 
death"  (Rom.  8:6).  This  state  was  represented  in  the 
sensuous  animal-worshiping  Egyptians  in  the  days  of 
Moses.  "And  the  Egyptians  said,  "We  be 'all  dead 
men"  (Ex.  12:33).  "And  Pharaoh  said,  Who  is  the 
Lord,  that  I  should  obey  his  voice  to  let  Israel  go? 
I  know  not  the  Lord,  neither  will  I  let  Israel  go"  (Ex. 
5:2).  Emerson  in  his  essay  on  Circles,  says:  "People 
wish  to  be  settled:  only  as  far  as  they  are  unsettled,  is 
there  any  hope  for  them.  ...  I  unsettle  all  things." 
"Moab  hath  been  at  ease  from  his  youth,  and  he  hath 
settled  on  his  lees,  and  hath  not  been  emptied  from 
vessel  to  vessel,  neither  hath  he  gone  into  captivity: 
therefore  his  taste  remained  in  him,  and  his  scent  is 
not  changed"  (Jer.  48:  11).  Our  taste,  our  scent,  our 
affections  are  not  changed  except  by  chastening,  and 
discipline,  and  suffering.  So  long  as  we  are  settled 
upon  our  lees,  so  long  as  we  are  enamored  of  the  sensu- 
ous life,  so  long  as  our  hearts  are  devoted  to  the  flesh 
pots  of  Egypt,  we  remain  in  a  state  of  death.  "The 
effect  of  continued  prosperity,"  said  Margaret  Fuller, 
"is  the  same  on  nations  as  on  individuals;  it  leaves  the 
nobler  faculties  undeveloped." 

Hades  represents  the  unsettled  state  of  man,  the 
state  wherein  man  is  "emptied  from  vessel  to  vessel" 
and  is  thus  freed  from  his  lees.  They  that  have 
abandoned  Egypt,  they  that  are  in  this  state,  are  repre- 
sented as  living  a  nomadic  life,  dwelling  in  booths,  in  a 
desert  land.  The  Scriptures  teach  that  man  cannot 
enter  into  the  good  land,  the  promised  land,  the  land 
that  represents  a  high  and  holy  state  of  consciousness, 
until  he  has  been  chastened,  and  disciplined,  and  made 
to  know  the  whole  way  from  Egypt  to  the  promised 


328  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

land  (Deut.  8: 1-4).  None  attain  to  the  higher  life 
until  they  have  paid  "the  uttermost  farthing"  (Matt. 
5:26). 

Elijah  is  the  true  and  eternal  type  of  the  preaching 
prophet;  lie  comes  to  restore  Israel;  he  comes  to  restore 
the  Law.  All  who  are  willing  to  suffer  in  the  cause  of 
truth  and  who  seek  to  awaken  their  fellows  out  of  a  state 
of  sensuality  and  death  belong  to  the  Elias  ministry. 
Repentance  is  the  first  step  in  the  reformation  of  man ;  he 
repents  who  abandons  Egypt,  who  abandons  the  sensu- 
ous life.  In  the  present  state  of  man,  his  carnal  desires 
are  stronger  than  conscience  and  reason.  Desire  is 
the  craving  of  the  lower  nature  of  man  for  things  that 
afford  sensual  gratification;  and  so  long  as  man  is  the 
victim  of  his  sensuous-desire  nature,  he  is  dead  and 
helpless,  awaiting  resurrection.  Elias  must  first  come 
and  destroy  the  false  prophets,  and  the  worship  of 
false  gods;  and  restore  obedience  to  the  Law,  and  the 
worship  of  the  One  Living  Almighty  God.  Elias  must 
first  come  and  awaken  man  out  of  a  state  of  death. 
"We  know  what  we  worship:  for  Salvation  is  of  the 
Jews.  But  the  hour  cometh,  and  now  is,  when  the 
true  worshipers  shall  worship  the  Father  in  Spirit  and 
in  Truth:  for  the  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship  Him" 
Qohn4:22,  23). 

"Father,  I  will  that  they  also,  whom  thou  hast 
given  me,  be  with  me  where  I  am;  that  they  may  behold 
my  glory,  which  thou  hast  given  me:  for  thou  lovedst 
me  before  the  foundation  of  the  world"  (John  17:  24). 
They  who  will  behold  the  glory,  the  transfiguration  of 
Moses,  and  of  Elias,  and  of  Jesus,  are  they  who  live 
worthy  of  the  privileges  of  life,  who  live  superior  to  the 
spirit  of  the  sensuous  animal  world,  and  thus  have 
overcome  the  world;  none  but  the  resurrected  behold 


Elijah  329 

the  glory  that  God  hath  given  to  Moses,  and  to  Elias, 
and  to  Jesus.  God  hath  loved  man,  manas,  through  all 
eternity;  for  he  is  spiritual.  God  hath  loved  his  only 
begotten  ' '  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. "  "  Man 
is  the  image  and  glory  of  God"  (i  Cor.  11:7). 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  STORY  OF  JONAH  THE  PROPHET 

"No  sign  shall  be  given,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas." 

IN  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Matthew,  it  is  written 
that  certain  of  the  Pharisees  said  unto  Jesus,  "Master, 
we  would  see  a  sign  from  thee.  But  he  answered  and 
said  unto  them,  An  evil  and  adulterous  generation 
seeketh  after  a  sign;  and  there  shall  no  sign  be  given 
to  it,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas;  for  as  Jonas 
was  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  whale's  belly; 
so  shall  the  son  of  man  be  three  days  and  three  nights 
in  the  heart  of  the  earth." 

The  book  of  Jonah  is  the  story  of  the  prophet,  and 
of  every  prophet.  It  is  an  allegory  descriptive  of  the 
suffering,  trials,  and  provocations  which  every  human 
soul  must  experience  which  becomes  a  conscious  organ 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Briefly  speaking,  it  is  an  allegory 
descriptive  of  the  evolution  of  the  prophet,  the  servant 
of  God.  "God  revealeth  His  secret  unto  His  servants 
the  prophets"  (Amos  3:7). 

Jesus  tells  the  Pharisees  that  no  sign  is  to  be  given 
but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas.  What  is  the  sign  of 
the  prophet?  It  is  the  sign  of  the  .resurrection.  The 
prophets  are  the  resurrected.  They  are  those  who  have 
abandoned  the  Egyptian  state  of  consciousness,  and 
330 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet       331 

have  graduated  in  the  school  of  adversity.  They  are 
those  who  have  died  to  the  world,  and  who  live  to  God. 
They  are  the  friends  of  God,  the  sons  of  God,  the 
servants  of  God.  They  are  pure  and  upright  souls  in 
whom  the  Spirit  of  God  is  said  to  be  "awake"  (Job. 
8:6).  They  are  holy  souls  into  which  the  Holy  Spirit, 
or  Wisdom  has  entered.  "Wisdom  maketh  all  things 
new :  and  in  all  ages  entering  into  holy  souls,  she  maketh 
them  friends  of  God,  and  prophets"  (Wisd.  of  Sol. 
7:27).  They  are  born  of  water,  and  of  the  Spirit; 
they  are  those  upon  whom  the  dove,  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  descended.  The  psychological  fact,  or  change, 
which  constitutes  a  man  a  prophet  is  the  resurrection 
from  the  dead.  It  is  his  resurrection  out  of  an  animal- 
ized  state  of  consciousness  into  a  state  of  humanism, 
of  spirituality,  and  of  peace. 

"My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  They  that 
are  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God  are  the  con- 
scious organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Jesus,  like  all  the 
great  Masters  in  Israel,  demonstrated  in  his  own  life 
the  resurrection ;  his  life  heralded  the  sign  of  Jonah  the 
prophet.  No  sign  is  to  be  given  but  the  sign  of  the 
prophet  Jonas,  the  sign  of  the  resurrection.  Man, 
would  he  be  a  man,  must  attain  to  the  stature  of  the 
prophet,  to  the  fulness  of  Christ  (Eph.  4:  13).  Reli- 
gion is  not  a  matter  of  speculation;  it  is  demonstrated 
in  the  life  of  the  prophet.  The  prophets,  the  servants 
of  God,  are  our  elder  brothers;  they  are  our  teachers 
and  masters. 

Every  one  who  has  attained  to  his  true  inheritance 
is  a  prophet.  Joshua,  the  servant  of  Moses,  told  his 
master  that  two  young  men  were  prophesying  in  the 
camp;  and  said,  "My  Lord,  forbid  them."  "And 
Moses  said  unto  him,  Enviest  thou  for  my  sake  ?  I  would 


332  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

to  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were  prophets,  and 
that  the  Lord  would  put  his  Spirit  upon  them"  (Num. 
11:29).  The  Lord  puts  His  Spirit  upon  all  the  just; 
all  power  and  virtue  is  of  God.  "Not  by  virtue  of 
material  strength  and  political  power  shall  ye  prevail, 
but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord"  (Zech.  4:6;  Neh. 
9:  30;  Jer.  9:  24).  All  the  great  of  Israel  are  prophets. 
When  a  prophecy  fails,  Israel  is  degenerate.  "For  it 
cannot  be  that  a  prophet  perish  out  of  Jerusalem" 
(Luke  13 : 33).  "  I  would  that  ye  all  speak  with  tongues, 
but  rather  that  ye  prophesied:  for  greater  is  he  that 
prophesieth  than  he  that  speaketh  with  tongues, 
except  that  he  interpret,  that  the  Church  [the  people  of 
God]  may  receive  edifying."  Paul  would  have  us 
know  that  the  interpretation  of  the  Word  of  God  is 
allied  to  prophecy.  "Every  scripture, "  says  Emerson, 
"is  to  be  interpreted  by  the  same  Spirit  which  gave  it 
forth,  is  the  fundamental  law  of  criticism.  A  life  in 
harmony  with  Nature,  the  love  of  truth  and  virtue, 
will  purge  the  eyes  to  understand  the  text." 

Wisdom  says  that  God  is  good; 
That  He  is  known  by  what  He  is. 
Let  man  from  wiles  and  evil  flee, 
And  seek  by  righteousness  to  see. 

"  Now  the  Word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  Jonah  the  son 
of  Amittai,  saying,  Arise,  go  to  Nineveh."  Jonah  did 
not  obey  this  call ;  he  was  not  yet  a  prophet ;  he  had  not 
passed  by  the  way  of  the  wilderness;  he  was  not  dead 
to  the  world.  His  life  was  not  dedicated  to  the  service 
of  God  and  man;  he  was  not  careful  to  do  the  will  of 
God.  Jonah  was  neglectful  of  duty,  and  of  moral 
purpose;  and  thus  it  is  written,  that  he  fled  "from  the 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet      333 

presence  of  the  Lord."  Every  one  who  neglects  duty 
flees  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord ;  he  abandons  reason ; 
he  desecrates  the  temple  of  the  living  God,  "which 
temple  ye  are."  Jonah  in  his  exit  from  God  "went 
down  to  Joppa,"  and  there  took  ship  for  Tarshish. 
But  God  is  not  to  be  defeated  by  the  wiles  of  Jonah; 
for  Jonah's  obdurate  heart  is  speedily  broken;  for  the 
Lord  sent  "a  mighty  tempest  in  the  sea,  so  that  the 
ship  was  like  to  be  broken." 

Jonah  is  in  the  Egyptian  state  of  consciousness; 
he  is  wedded  to  the  things  of  the  world.  All  persons 
in  this  state  are  described  in  the  Scriptures  as  asleep  or 
dead;  they  are  so  described  because  they  are  oblivious 
to  spiritual  things.  "There  was  a  mighty  tempest  in 
the  sea,  so  that  the  ship  was  like  to  be  broken"  .  .  . 
and  Jonah  "was  fast  asleep.  So  the  shipmaster  came 
to  him,  and  said  unto  him,  What  meanest  thou  O 
sleeper?  arise,  call  upon  thy  God."  The  shipmaster 
acts  in  obedience  to  reason;  he  is  evidently  on  the 
upper  deck;  but  the  crew  seems  to  have  been  of  the 
progeny  of  Ham.  The  mariners  were  afraid,  and 
cried  every  man  unto  his  god,  and  they  cast  forth  the 
wares  that  were  in  the  ship  to  lighten  it.  There  comes 
a  time  in  the  evolution  of  the  human  soul,  when  all 
earthly  things  must  be  sacrificed,  if  it  would  find  a 
haven  of  rest  and  peace.  The  ship's  crew  casts  lots 
in  order  to  determine  who  is  responsible  for  the  evil 
that  was  upon  them,  "and  the  lot  fell  upon  Jonah." 

But  even  the  superstitious  children  of  Ham  will 
wake  out  of  their  sleep  of  death,  and  will  flee  into  the 
desert,  or  on  to  the  deck  above  steerage,  provided  the 
tempest  lasts  long  enough,  and  comes  with  sufficient 
fury.  When  Jonah  is  awakened  out  of  his  "fast  sleep, " 
and  is  confronted  with  the  charge  that  he  is  unfaithful 


334  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

to  the  God  of  his  fathers,  he  confesses  that  he  is  a 
Hebrew,  and  that  he  stands  in  fear  of  the  Lord,  the 
God  of  heaven,  and  that  he  is  fleeing  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord;  they  aboard  the  ship  knew  this  "because 
he  had  told  them."  Jonah  is  not  a  liar.  He  is  a 
good  man  according  to  the  conventionalities  of  the 
world;  but  "his  soul  is  not  upright  in  him"  (Heb. 
2:4).  He  has  not  yet  experienced  that  dreadful 
discipline  which  makes  the  soul  just  and  upright  and 
perfectly  responsive  to  duty.  He  has  not  passed 
"the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord."  He  has  not 
been  baptized  with  fire;  but  we  shall  presently  see 
"how  he  is  straitened  till  it  be  accomplished"  (Luke 
12:50). 

And  the  mariners  asked  Jonah  what  they  should  do  to 
him  in  order  to  appease  the  wrath  of  Heaven;  and  he 
said  unto  them,  "Take  me  up,  and  cast  me  forth  into 
the  sea;  so  shall  the  sea  be  calm  unto  you;  for  I  know 
that  for  my  sake  this  great  tempest  is  upon  you." 
The  book  of  Jonah  is  the  story  of  the  prophet ;  it  is  an 
allegory  that  points  the  way  of  salvation.  "For  my 
sake  this  great  tempest  is  upon  you."  The  men  did  not 
want  to  cast  Jonah  overboard;  for  they  rowed  hard  to 
bring  the  ship  to  land;  but  their  work  and  prayers 
were  not  answered.  Nothing  would  avail  but  the 
sacrifice  of  Jonah ;  he  must  suffer,  and  die  to  the  world, 
and  be  resurrected.  Jonah  must  suffer  the  fate  of  the 
prophet;  the  Law  must  be  fulfilled;  he  must  be  baptized 
with  fire;  he  must  be  crucified. 

They  took  up  Jonah,  and  cast  him  forth  into  the  sea; 
and  the  sea  ceased  from  her  raging.  Then  the  men 
feared  the  Lord  exceedingly;  and  they  offered  a  sacrifice 
unto  the  Lord,  and  made  vows.  The  fate  of  Jonah  has 
sobered  and  appalled  all  who  have  witnessed  the  fury 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet      335 

of  the  storm.  They  offered  a  sacrifice  to  the  Lord  and 
made  vows.  The  way  of  salvation  is  demonstrated 
in  the  life  of  the  prophet.  "  No  sign  shall  be  given,  but 
the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas." 

It  is  written  that  Jonah  is  swallowed  by  a  great 
fish,  and  that  he  is  in  the  belly  of  the  fish  three  days  and 
three  nights.  The  Scriptures  speak  again  and  again  of 
the  sojourn  of  man  on  earth  as  three  days;  and  they 
teach  that  man  is  resurrected  from  the  dead  on  the 
third  day  (Hosea  6:2).  Moses  was  forty  years  in 
Egypt,  this  was  his  first  day ;  he  was  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness,  this  was  his  second  day;  and  he  was  resur- 
rected from  the  dead  at  Horeb  at  the  beginning  of  the 
third  day  (Mark  12:  26,  27);  and  he  was  a  teacher  and 
master  of  Israel  for  forty  years  after  he  was  resurrected, 
this  was  his  third  day.  Jesuasaid :  "The  third  day  I  shall 
be  perfected;  nevertheless  I  must  walk  to-day,  and 
to-morrow,  and  the  day  following :  for  it  cannot  be  that 
a  prophet  perish  out  of  [Israel]  Jerusalem"  (Luke  13: 

32,  33)- 

In  the  second  chapter  we  read  of  Jonah's  suffering, 
of  his  woe.  He  cries  to  the  Lord  out  of  the  belly  of 
hell ;  and  God  hears  his  prayers.  He  says  that  he  is  in 
the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  that  the  billows  and  waves 
pass  over  him.  He  is  in  a  state  of  despair.  "The 
weeds  were  wrapped  about  his  head."  No  one  could 
live  in  the  belly  of  a  fish;  no  one  could  have  weeds 
wrapped  about  his  head,  if  he  were  in  a  fish.  This  is 
an  allegory  descriptive  of  the  rigors  of  the  Law.  "  It  is 
appointed  unto  man  once  to  die  [to  the  world],  but 
after  this  the  judgment,"  the  crisis,  the  baptism  with 
fire. 

The  fish  is  the  symbol  of  the  resurrection.  The 
fish  when  drawn  out  of  the  water  dies.  It  dies  to 


336  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  world.  Water  represents  carnal  mind,  animalized 
mind.  Moses  is  the  name  of  him  who  was  drawn  out 
of  the  water  of  the  Nile.  Jesus,  when  baptized  of 
John  in  Jordan,  "went  up  straightway  out  of  the  water." 
Jonah  is  cast  forth  out  of  the  water  upon  the  dry  land. 
All  the  great  who  have  abandoned  the  Egyptian  state 
of  consciousness  are  said  to  be  drawn  out  of  the  water 
(2  Sam.  22: 17;  Ps.  18: 16;  144:  7).  In  the  fifth  chapter 
of  Luke,  it  is  written  that  Jesus  came  upon  vSimon 
Peter,  and  James  and  John,  fishermen,  when  they  were 
washing  their  nets.  Jesus  said  unto  Simon,  "Launch 
out  into  the  deep,  and  let  down  your  nets  for  a  draught, 
And  Simon  said  unto  him,  Master,  we  have  toiled  all 
night,  and  have  taken  nothing;  nevertheless  at  thy 
word  I  will  let  down  the  net."  Simon  is  incredulous; 
he  is  inclined  to  doubt  even  the-  word  of  the  Master. 
It  is  written  that  they  caught  a  great  multitude  of 
fishes,  enough  to  fill  two  ships,  and  that  when  Simon 
Peter  saw  the  great  number  of  fish  that  they  had  drawn 
forth  out  of  the  water  he  fell  down  at  Jesus'  knees 
saying,  "Depart  from  me;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O 
Lord."  This  is  the  story  of  the  resurrection.  "The 
draught  of  the  fishes,"  the  drawing  of  the  fish  out  of 
the  water  is  a  fit  symbol  of  the  resurrection.  This  is 
the  sign  of  the  Master,  and  of  the  prophet. 

The  soul's  evolution  is  the  work  of  an  inner  Divine 
Law  that  is  free  from  the  limitations  of  time  and  place ; 
and  its  work  is  psychological  and  subjective;  the  process 
is  necessarily  described  in  the  vernacular  of  the  natural 
man,  and  in  the  figurative  language  of  an  allegory. 
It  therefore  follows  that  the  tempest,  the  ship,  the  sea, 
the  fish,  the  King  of  Nineveh,  and  words  and  phrases 
descriptive  of  times,  places,  and  distances  are  necessarily 
used  allegorically.  Psychology  is  a  subjective  science. 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet      337 

It  deals  essentially  with  states  of  consciousness;  it 
deals  with  the  unseen. 

Language  should  be  interpreted  according  to  the 
object  which  it  is  intended  to  describe.  If  it  describes 
a  visible  and  ponderable  object,  then  it  may  receive  a 
literal  interpretation ;  but  if  it  describes  a  psychological 
and  subjective  process,  then  it  should  be  spiritually 
interpreted.  The  outward,  the  visible,  is  interpreted 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  natural  man;  and  the 
subjective  from  the  standpoint  of  the  spiritual  man. 
A  sword  in  the  hand  of  the  natural  man  is  a  symbol  of 
war  and  violence ;  but  in  the  hand  of  the  spiritual  man 
it  is  a  symbol  of  justice.  "And  he  that  hath  no 
sword,  let  him  sell  his  garment,  and  buy  one"  (Luke 
22:36).  Jesus  was  no  Caesar;  he  was  dead  to  the 
warlike  and  animalized  state  of  Caesar;  he  had  conquered 
and  destroyed  his  Caesar;  he  was  consciously  related 
to  the  spiritual  kingdom,  the  kingdom  that  transcends 
the  animal;  and  to  him  a  sword  is  a  symbol  of  justice. 
He  would  have  men  sacrifice  their  garments,  every 
outward  thing,  to  the  end  that  they  may  be  just  in 
mind  and  heart,  to  the  end  that  their  souls  may  be  just 
and  upright  before  God. 

Jonah's  obdurate  spirit  is  broken;  the  tempest  has 
done  its  work.  Jonah  is  penitent;  his  adversity  hath 
made  him  wise.  "They  that  observe  lying  vanities 
forsake  their  own  mercy.  But  I  will  sacrifice  unto  thee 
with  the  voice  of  thanksgiving;  I  will  pay  that  that 
I  have  vowed.  Salvation  is  of  the  Lord"  (Jonah 
2;8f  9).  Jonah  is  repentant;  he  has  vowed  that  he 
will  be  faithful  to  God,  and  that  he  will  keep  his  vows. 
He  has  attained  to  the  third  day;  he  is  now  to  experience 
the  resurrection  and  the  judgment.  "It  is  appointed 
unto  man  once  to  die  [to  the  world],  and  after  this  the 


338  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

judgment,"  the  crisis,  the  baptism  with  fire  (Heb. 
9:27).  Jonah  has  "indeed  been  baptized  with  water 
unto  repentance"  (Matt.  3:11);  but  now  comes  his 
baptism  with  fire,  the  judgment,  the  crisis,  "the  great 
and  fearful  day  of  the  Lord"  (Mai.  4:5);  and  we  shall 
see  "how  he  is  straitened  until  it  be  accomplished" 
(Luke  12:50). 

Jonah's  resurrection  is  marked  by  his  emergence 
from  the  water.  "And  the  Lord  spake  unto  the  fish, 
and  it  cast  out  Jonah  upon  the  dry  land."  The  fish, 
the  symbol  of  the  Spirit  and  power  of  God,  attends  and 
sustains  Jonah  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  where  he  abides 
for  three  days  and  three  nights,  and.  then,  the  fish 
comes  up  out  of  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  casts  out 
Jonah  upon  dry  land.  Jonah  is  resurrected  from  the 
dead.  "The  son  of  man,  the  mind  of  man,  must  be 
lifted  up  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilder- 
ness." In  the  Scriptures  attributed  to  Paul,  it  is  written, 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  declared  to  be  the  son  of  God 
with  power,  according  to  the  spirit  of  holiness,  by  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead  (Rom.  1:4).  The  resur- 
rection spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  is  a  resurrection  out 
of  a  state  of  carnality  and  death,  into  a  state  of  spiritual- 
ity, and  of  life,  and  of  peace.  Jesus  said  unto  one  of 
his  disciples:  "Follow  me;  and  let  the  dead  [the  carnally 
minded]  bury  their  dead"  (Matt.  8:22).  The  carnal 
man,  he  that  abides  in  the  Egyptian  state  of  conscious- 
ness, is  described  in  the  Scriptures  as  dead ;  he  is  dead 
who  lives  the  carnal  life  (Ex.  12:  33;  Gen.  20:  3). 

In  the  third  chapter,  it  is  written,  "And  the  word 
of  the  Lord  came  to  Jonah  the  second  time,  saying, 
Arise,  go  unto  Nineveh."  Jonah  is  approaching  the  end 
of  the  world.  He  must  put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifices 
of  himself  (Heb.  9:  26).  Jonah  now  starts  on  a 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet      339 

three  days'  journey.  "Now  Nineveh  was  an  exceeding 
great  city  of  three  days'  journey."  Jonah  is  now  to  be 
tried  and  tempted  of  the  devil;  he  must  bear  trials  and 
temptations  for  forty  days  and  forty  nights;  "yet 
forty  days  and  Nineveh  shall  be  overthrown."  The 
animal  traits  inhering  in  Jonah's  soul,  the  seed  of  Satan 
that  caused  him  to  flee  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 
are  doomed  to  an  utter  overthrow.  There  is  a  Nineveh 
in  the  depths  of  Jonah's  own  soul  that  must  be  purged 
of  all  that  is  false  to  God;  this  false  Nineveh  must  be 
overthrown;  "there  shall  not  be  left  one  stone  upon 
another,  that  shall  not  be  thrown  down." 

The  son  of  man,  the  mind  of  man  must  be  lifted  up. 
Reason,  the  governing  principle  within  the  soul  should 
assume  its  rightful  sovereignty;  and  be  independent 
of  its  outward  carnal  robe  and  bow  down  in  humility  be- 
fore God.  ' '  The  word  came  to  the  King  of  Nineveh,  and 
he  arose  from  his  throne,  and  laid  his  robe  from  him, 
and  covered  himself  with  sackcloth,  and  sat  in  ashes." 
And  the  king  published  a  decree  proclaiming  a  fast,  and 
said:  "Let  man  and  beast  be  covered  with  sackcloth, 
and  cry  mightily  unto  God";  and  thus  it  was  that 
Nineveh  was  purged  of  her  evil.  The  soul  and  body  of 
Jonah,  the  man  and  the  beast,  are  "covered  with  sack- 
cloth and  ashes,  and  cry  mightily  unto  God."  "I 
beseech  you  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God 
that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy, 
and  acceptable  unto  God,  which  is  your  reasonable 
service"  (Rom.  12:  i). 

"Who  can  tell  if  God  will  turn  and  repent,  and  turn 
away  from  his  fierce  anger,  that  we  perish  not?" 
(Jonah  3:9).  WheA  will  we  escape  from  the  rigors 
of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord?  When  will 
the  Law  of  God  be  vindicated?  When  will  our  tempta- 


34°  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

tions  and  baptism  with  fire  be  at  an  end?  When  will  our 
soul  find  rest?  When  will  it  be  at  peace? 

In  the  last  chapter  of  Jonah,  we  hear  the  expiring 
wail  of  the  natural  man;  the  old  man  dies  hard;  he  finds 
no  pleasure  in  the  purification  of  Nineveh.  The 
cleansing  of  Nineveh  has  caused  him  unspeakable 
anguish  and  suffering.  The  last  words  of  the  natural 
Jonah  present  in  a  marvelous  way  the  attitude  of  the 
natural  man  toward  God  and  religion.  "But  it  dis- 
pleased Jonah  exceedingly,  and  he  was  very  angry. 
And  he  prayed  unto  the  Lord,  and  said;  .  .  .  when  I 
was  yet  in  my  country  [when  I  was  unregenerate], 
I  fled  before  thee  unto  Tarshish;  for  I  knew  thou  art  a 
gracious  God,  and  merciful,  and  slow  to  anger,  and  of 
great  kindness.  .  .  .  Therefore,  now,  O  Lord,  take,  I 
beseech  thee,  my  life  from  me,  for  it  is  better  for  me  to 
die  than  to  live." 

The  natural  man  expects  to  attain  to  a  state  of 
eternal  rest  and  peace  in  some  easy  way.  Is  not  the 
atonement  vicarious?  Why  should  man  die  to  his 
animal  nature?  Why  should  the  mind  and  the  body, 
the  man  and  the  beast,  sit  in  sackcloth  and  ashes? 
Why  should  man  be  the  master  of  his  body,  and  make  it 
holy  and  chaste,  and  present  it  "a  living  sacrifice  unto 
God?"  Why  should  Paul  call  this  a  "reasonable  ser- 
vice"? Why  should  anybody  abandon  the  pleasures  of 
Egypt?  Why  should  any  one  abandon  the  pleasures 
of  the  flesh,  and  gird  his  loins,  and  start  to  the  promised 
land  by  the  way  of  the  wilderness?  Why  not  go  where 
you  please,  and  do  what  you  please,  and  trust  to  God's 
mercy? 

The  answer  to  this  is :  God  is  just ;  He  has  endowed 
the  human  soul  with  reason  "  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it " 
(Gen.  2: 15);  and  through  "his  servants  the  prophets," 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet      341 

He  has  given  to  man  the  Law  of  Human  Life;  and  He 
commands  man  to  be  just  as  He  is  just.  The  Law 
applies  to  every  rational  being,  and  must  be  fulfilled 
by  all.  "And  it  is  easier  for  heaven  and  earth  to  pass, 
than  one  tittle  of  the  Law  to  fail"  (Luke  16:17). 
Man  must  answer  for  every  infraction  of  Heaven's  Law. 
"Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked,  for  whatsoever 
a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap."  The  just 
are  they  whose  souls  are  attuned  to  Heaven's  Law. 
"Through  knowledge  shall  the  just  be  delivered" 
(Prov.  11:9). 

John  Ruskin  (Fors  Clavigera,  iii.,  p.  17).  when  discuss- 
ing what  some  of  the  theologians  are  pleased  to  call 
"Vicarious  Salvation,"  said:  "There  are  briefly  two, 
and  two  only,  forms  of  possible  Christian,  Pagan,  or  any 
other  Gospel,  or  'good  message':  one,  that  men  are 
saved  by  themselves  doing  what  is  right ;  and  the  other, 
that  they  are  saved  by  believing  that  somebody  else 
did  right  instead  of  them.  The  first  of  these  Gospels 
is  eternally  true,  and  holy;  the  other  eternally  false, 
damnable,  and  damning." 

The  King  of  Nineveh  proclaims  the  Law,  it  is  impera- 
tive. Let  man  and  beast,  soul  and  body,  be  covered 
with  sackcloth,  and  cry  mightily  unto  God.  This  is 
the  way  of  salvation.  The  animal  nature  of  man  must 
be  conquered,  and  girded.  Jesus,  in  "the  days  of  his 
flesh,  offered  up  prayers  and  supplications  with  crying 
and  tears  unto  him  that  was  able  to  save  him  from 
death,  and  was  heard,"  and  thus  Jesus  was  resurrected 
from  the  dead,  and  was  made  perfect,  and  became  the 
author  of  salvation  unto  many  (Heb.  5:  7-9).  This  is 
the  fate  of  the  prophet.  The  prophets  are  the  wise 
men ;  they  point  the  way  of  salvation. 

"He  that  is  dead  [to  the  world]  is  freed  from  sin" 


342  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

(Rom.  6 17).  "  He  that  overcometh  [the  world]  shall  not 
be  hurt  of  the  second  death"  (Rev.  2:11).  The  pro- 
phets are  they  who  have  overcome  the  world.  The  first 
death  here  spoken  of  is  a  death  to  the  world;  the 
second  death  is  an  abandonment  of  the  physical  body. 
They  who  have  died  to  the  world,  who  have  suffered 
the  first  death,  have  their  life's  story  written  in  the 
Book  of  Jonah.  Jesus  tells  the  Pharisees  that  "no 
sign  is  to  be  given,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas." 
The  sign  of  the  prophet  is  the  sign  of  the  resurrection; 
and  of  this,  the  fish  that  is  drawn  out  of  the  water  is  a 
fit  symbol. 

In  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Matthew  (17:24-27) 
is  the  parable  of  the  tribute  money.  Peter,  surnamed 
Bar-jonah  (the  son  of  the  dove),  is  the  apostle  to  find 
the  tribute-money.  The  dove  is  a  symbol  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Peter,  it  would  seem,  was  the  first  of 
Jesus'  disciples  to  be  resurrected  from  the  dead,  the 
first  upon  whom  the  dove  descended.  Peter  is  the 
apostle  who  is  first  called;  he  is  a  fisherman;  and  is 
made  a  fisher  of  men.  A  personal  contribution  of  any 
kind  is  in  the  nature  of  tribute;  and  the  greatest  of  all 
contributions  is  that  which  points  the  way  of  human 
salvation;  and  this  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  that 
speaks  through  the  mouths  of  the  just.  "God  hath 
spoken  by  the  mouth  of  his  holy  prophets  since  the 
world  began"  (Luke  1 :  70).  This  parable  would  have 
us  know  that  the  word  of  God,  symbolized  by  the  tribute- 
money,  is  forever  in  the  mouth  of  the  resurrected. 
The  tribute-money  is  found  in  the  mouth  of  the  fish 
that  Peter  drew  out  of  the  water.  The  truth,  the  word 
of  God,  that  which  bestows  upon  us  life,  and  strength, 
and  wisdom,  is  near  to  all  of  us,  if  we  would  but 
know  it.  "The  word  is  very  near  unto  thee,  in  thy 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet       343 

mouth,  and  in  thy  heart,  that  thou  mayst  do  it"  (Deut. 
30: 14). 

Jonah  is  sick  and  tired  unto  death.  "It  is  better 
for  me  to  die  than  to  live.  Then  said  the  Lord,  Doest 
thou  well  to  be  angry?"  So  Jonah  went  out  of  the 
city,  and  sat  on  the  east  side  of  the  city,  that  he  might 
see  what  would  come  of  the  city.  Jonah  is  now  awaiting 
the  end  of  the  world,  the  end  of  the  world  so  far  as  he  is 
concerned.  "It  is  appointed  unto  man  once  to  die" 
to  the  world.  Our  love  of  this  animal  world  must  come 
to  an  end,  if  we  would  be  related  to  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  the  kingdom  that  transcends  the  animal  kingdom. 
"My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  if  my  kingdom  were 
of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight."  Jesus 
"appeared  once  in  the  end  of  the  world  to  put  away 
sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself"  (Heb.  9:  26).  The  great 
are  they  who  have  died  to  the  world,  who  have  overcome 
the  world,  who  have  attained  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

Jonah  had  undergone  great  suffering.  He  is  baptized 
with  water ;  he  has  repented  of  his  sins,  and  has  emerged 
from  the  water.  He  is  baptized  with  fire,  the  Nineveh 
within  his  soul  is  purged;  he  is  now  at  the  end  of  the 
world.  But  it  is  the  will  of  Heaven  that  Jonah  shall  have 
one  more  illustration  of  the  vanity  of  all  earthly  things. 
And  the  Lord  prepared  a  gourd  that  it  might  be  a 
shadow  over  Jonah's  head.  The  lesson  of  the  gourd  is 
addressed  to  reason.  "So  Jonah  was  exceedingly  glad 
of  the  gourd."  But  the  gourd  died  in  a  day,  and  the 
sun  smote  upon  the  head  of  Jonah,  so  that  he  fainted 
and  wished  himself  dead. 

He  who  would  attain  to  a  heavenly  state  of  con- 
sciousness, a  state  of  rest  and  peace,  must  demonstrate 
in  his  own  life  the  sign  of  Jonah  the  prophet,  the  sign  of 
the  resurrection.  He  who  sets  his  heart  upon  the 


344  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

things  of  this  animal  world  is  engaged  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  gourds;  and  is  destined  to  see  them  come  to 
naught;  but  he  who  invokes  the  power  of  God  by  the 
cultivation  of  virtue,  and  thus  makes  pure  and  righteous 
his  own  soul,  his  own  Nineveh,  builds  for  eternity; 
for  the  soul  is  the  abiding. 

The  book  of  Jonah  is  an  allegory;  it  is  intended  to 
show,  and  it  does  show,  the  mode  and  manner. of  the 
soul's  evolution:  that  there  is  a  rebirth,  a  resurrection 
out  of  a  state  of  animalism  into  a  state  of  humanism; 
and  that  this  is  represented  in  a  process:  a  long  period 
of  sorrow,  trials,  and  temptations.  It  stands  to  reason 
that  every  human  soul  in  its  essential  nature  is  like 
every  other;  and  that  every  soul  that  would  attain 
to  its  own  must  experience  the  trials,  and  temptations, 
and  anguish  figuratively  described  in  this  allegory. 
The  ordinary  office  of  history  is  to  record  events  in 
time;  but  the  book  of  Jonah  is  scientific  and  philosophic 
in  this  that  it  describes  and  illustrates  a  psychological 
process  that  is  beyond  the  ken  of  history  and  time. 

When  we  say  that  this  story  is  essentially  psycho- 
logical, we  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Jonah  may  not  have 
gone  to  Nineveh.  Jonah  was  a  prophet,  a  servant  of 
God;  and  it  is  entirely  consistent  with  his  life  and 
his  office  that  he  should  have  gone  to  Nineveh,  the 
city  of  a  Gentile  people ;  and  that  he  should  have  raised 
his  voice,  and  cried  out  in  condemnation  of  its  wicked- 
ness (Jonah  1:2).  This  allegory  teaches  that  the 
Law,  the  message  of  Israel,  was,  and  is  destined  to 
be  carried  to  all  nations  and  peoples.  Jewish  parentage 
did  not  make  one  a  member  of  the  congregation  of 
Israel;  it  required  an  acknowledgment  of  the  faith. 
"Is  Israel  a  servant?  is  he  a  homeborn  slave?"  (Jer. 
2:14).  He  is  a  Jew,  an  Israelite,  "which  is  one 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet      345 

inwardly"  (Rom.  2 :  29) ;  he  is  one  who  has  escaped  the 
obsessions  of  the  world,  and  is  free  in  mind  and  heart. 
"  One  Law  shall  be  to  him  that  is  homeborn,  and  unto 
the  stranger  that  sojourneth  among  you"  (Ex.  12:49). 

"No  sign  shall  be  given  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet 
Jonas."  The  sign  that  takes  precedence  of  all  other 
signs  is  the  sign  of  the  resurrection.  God  is  the  God 
of  the  resurrected,  "of  the  living";  they  alone  are  led 
and  taught  of  the  Spirit;  the  dead,  the  carnally 
minded,  are  unmindful  of  the  will  of  God.  "But  as 
touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  have  ye  not  read 
that  which  was  spoken  unto  you  by  God,  saying,  I  am 
the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the 
God  of  Jacob?  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of 
the  living  "  (Matt.  22 :  3 1 ,  32) .  Jesus,  when  resurrected, 
"manifested  forth  his  glory";  and  gave  many  evidences 
of  his  power  and  wisdom,  but  these  "signs"  were  made 
possible  by  the  one  great  fact,  the  one  great  sign,  to 
wit:  the  resurrection.  The  resurrected  are  the  sons  of 
God;  they  recognize  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man;  they  constitute  a  high  and  holy 
fraternity.  "Jesus  was  declared  to  be  a  son  of  God 
with  power,  according  to  the  spirit  of  holiness,  by  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead"  (Rom.  1:4). 

It  is  written  that  Jesus  gave  "many  signs"  other 
than  those  recorded.  "But  these  are  written  that  ye 
may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  [the  anointed,  the 
wise,  the  resurrected],  the  son  of  God;  and  believing 
that  ye  might  have  life  through  his  name"  [through  a 
belief  in  his  character]  (John  20:  31).  The  faith  of  this 
man  in  the  name,  the  character,  of  Jesus  Christ,  hath 
made  him  strong,  whom  ye  see  and  know :  yea,  the  faith 
inspired  of  Jesus  hath  given  him  this  perfect  soundness 
in  the  presence  of  you  all  (Acts  3:  16).  In  the  writings 


346  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke,  denominated  the  synop- 
tic Scriptures,  faith  means  trust  in  God;  but  in  John 
it  very  often  means  a  belief  in  the  life  and  character 
of  Jesus  Christ,  or  rather,  a  belief  in  God  through  the 
life  of  Christ.  "He  that  believeth  on  me,  believeth 
not  on  me,  but  on  him  that  sent  me"  (John  12:44). 
Belief  in  the  high  and  holy  possibilities  of  man  ulti- 
mates  in  a  belief  in  God.  The  Scriptures  teach  that 
man  comes  to  love  God  through  the  love  of  his  brother, 
his  neighbor.  "He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom 
he  hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not 
seen?"  (i  John  4:  20).  It  is  through  the  love  of  man 
that  the  love  of  God  is  "perfected  in  us"  (i  John 
4:12).  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  (Gen.  4:9). 
All  who  love  God  have  first  come  to  love,  and  to  respect 
their  brothers.  "Have  we  not  all  One  Father?  hath 
not  One  God  created  us  all?"  (Mai.  2: 10). 

The  life  of  Jesus,  and  of  Moses,  and  of  all  the  truly 
great,  do  not  represent  the  fulfillment  of  historic 
predictions.  The  lives  of  the  twice-born,  of  the 
resurrected,  represent  the  fulfillment  of  a  Law  as  high 
and  holy,  and  eternal  as  Heaven  itself.  The  resurrec- 
tion is  the  sign  that  makes  manifest  in  man  the  power 
and  glory  of  God,  the  Father.  The  resurrected  are  the 
dispensers  of  wisdom.  Water  is  a  symbol  of  carnal 
mind ;  the  resurrected  change  water  into  wine.  "What- 
soever he  saith  unto  you,  do  it"  (John  2:5).  "This 
beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and 
manifested  forth  his  glory;  and  his  disciples  believed 
on  him"  (John  2:  n).  Jesus  demonstrated  in  his  life 
the  high  and  holy  possibilities  of  man. 

Jesus  Christ  belonged  to  the  true  race  of  prophets  [said 
Emerson].  ...  He  saw  that  God  incarnates  himself  in 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet      347 

man,  and  ever  more  goeth  forth  to  take  possession  of  his 
world.  He  said  in  the  jubilee  of  his  divine  emotion,  "I 
am  divine.  Through  me  God  acts;  through  me,  speaks. 
Would  you  see  God,  see  me,  or  see  thee  when  thou  thinkest 
as  I  now  think."  .  .  .  Thus  he  was  a  true  man.  Having 
seen  that  the  Law  in  us  is  commanding,  he  would  not  suffer 
it  to  be  commanded. 

The  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  man  are  the  two 
great  commandments  (Deut.  6:5;  Lev.  19:  18).  "On 
these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  Law  and  the  pro- 
phets" (Matt.  22:  40).  Human  greatness  begins  in  the 
love  of  man,  and  ultimates  in  the  love  of  God,  the 
Father  of  us  all.  William  Ellery  Channing,  when  speak- 
ing on  the  text,  "Honor  all  men"  (i  Peter  2: 17),  said: 

I  hold  that  nothing  is  to  make  man  a  true  lover  of  man 
but  the  discovery  of  something  interesting  and  great  in  hu- 
man nature.  We  must  see  and  feel  that  a  human  being 
is  something  important,  and  of  immeasurable  importance. 
We  must  see  and  feel  the  broad  distance  between  the 
spiritual  life  within  us  and  the  vegetable  and  animal  life 
which  acts  upon  us.  ...  A  human  being  deserves  a  different 
affection  from  what  we  bestow  on  inferior  creatures,  for  he 
has  a  rational  and  moral  nature,  by  which  he  is  to  endure 
forever,  by  which  he  may  achieve  an  unutterable  happi- 
ness, or  sink  into  unutterable  woe.  He  is  more  interesting 
through  what  is  in  him,  than  the  earth  or  heavens;  and  the 
only  way  to  love  him  aright  is  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  this 
immortal  power  within  him.  .  .  .  Do  we  feel  that  there 
is  one  divine  life  in  our  own  soul  and  in  all  souls?  This 
seems  to  be  the  only  true  bond  of  man  to  man. 

The  great,  the  resurrected,  enter  into  no  metaphysical 
speculations  about  the  nature  of  the  Deity;  their 
knowledge  of  God  is  founded  upon  what  they  know  of 


348  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

man.  "O  my  God  who  art  always  the  same,  let  me 
know  myself,  and  I  shall  know  thee,"  said  St.  Augustine. 
Moses  and  Jesus,  and  all  the  resurrected  "manifested 
forth  their  glory,"  and  did  what  they  could  to  teach 
and  demonstrate  what  man  is.  "How  unsearchable 
are  God's  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out. 
For  who  hath  known  the  Mind  of  the  Lord?"  (Rom. 
11:33,  34)-  No  two  individuals,  so  far  as  we  know, 
in  the  course  of  all  time,  did  so  much  to  enlighten 
mankind  concerning  the  nature  of  man,  and  his  high  and 
holy  possibilities,  as  did  Moses  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
"Jesus  did  not  need  that  any  should  testify  of  man: 
for  he  knew  what  was  in  man"  (John  2:  25). T 

Much  has  been  written  of  the  Messiah,  the  Christos, 
the  anointed.  The  Messiah,  it  would  seem  is  always 
coming;  he  is  the  eternal  type  that  is  promised;  he 
is  the  ideal  man  of  God.  Prophets  in  some  measure 
comparable  to  the  Messianic  ideal  have  come  and 
gone.  God  hath  "spoken  by  the  mouth  of  his  holy 
prophets,  which  have  been  since  the  world  began" 
(Luke  1:70).  Through  the  prophet  God  visits  His 
people  (Luke  7:16;  1:68);  through  the  prophet  God 
testifies  against  His  people  by  His  Spirit  (Neh.  9:  30). 
"Can  we  find  such  a  one  as  this  is,  a  man  in  whom  the 
Spirit  of  God  is?"  (Gen.  41:38).  It  is  written  in 
Hebrews  (1:9),  that  Jesus  was  "anointed  with  the  oil 
of  gladness  above  his  fellows."  But  it  should  be 
remembered  that  the  anointing,  the  realization  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  promised  to  all  the  just  (i  John  2:20; 
Num.  1 1 : 29;  2  Cor.  1:21).  The  just  are  they  who  love 
righteousness  and  hate  wickedness ;  they  make  manifest 
the  Spirit  of  God  (Rom.  1 :  19) ;  the  just  are  they 

1  See  the  words  of  William  Ellery  Charming  in  the  opening  paragraph 
of  the  chapter  entitled  "The  Story  of  Joseph." 


The  Story  of  Jonah  the  Prophet      349 

whom  "God  hath  anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness 
above  their  fellows"  (Ps.  45:  7;  Heb.  1:9). 

The  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures  announce 
principles  that  have  been  fulfilled  and  realized  in  a 
large  measure  in  the  lives  of  all  the  truly  great ;  and  to 
the  extent  that  man  lives  and  fulfills  these  heaven- 
descended  principles  his  life  approaches  the  Messianic 
ideal ;  and,  moreover,  it  may  be  said  that  he  who  has 
fulfilled  the  principles  written  in  the  Law  of  Moses 
and  in  the  prophets  represents  the  Messianic  ideal. 
Since  all  human  souls  are  builded  after  the  same  divine 
pattern,  "the  pattern  which  was  showed  Moses  in  the 
mount"  (Ex.  25:40),  it  follows  that  every  one  who 
would  attain  to  perfection  of  life  must  fulfill  what  is 
written  in  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  prophets. 
"All  things  must  be  fulfilled,  which  were  written  in 
the  Law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  prophets,  and  in  the 
psalms,  concerning  me  "  (Luke  24 :  44) .  The  Scriptures 
were  written  "concerning"  every  human  soul  alike; 
and  it  is  the  first  duty  of  man,  to  fulfill  them  as  did 
Joseph,  and  Moses,  and  Jesus,  and  all  the  great.  The 
fulfillment  of  the  Scriptures  is  made  manifest  in  the 
resurrection.  "No  sign  shall  be  given,  but  the  sign  of 
the  prophet  Jonas." 


CHAPTER  X 

JOHN  THE  BAPTIST 

"Repent  ye:  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand"  (Matt.  3: 2). 

JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  preceded  Jesus  as  a  herald.  He 
came  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elias  "to  turn  the 
disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of  the  just,"  and  to  make  a 
people  ready  for  the  coming  of  the  "great  day  of  the 
Lord"  (Luke  1 : 16)'.  John  was  of  noble  lineage;  he 
was  descended  from  pious  parents.  He  resembled  in 
his  simple  and  ascetic  life  the  Essenes;  and  many 
writers  have  said,  or  intimated,  that  he  belonged  to 
this  sect.  John  was  no  respecter  of  persons.  He 
told  Herod  Antipas  and  Herodias  his  wife  of  their 
wickedness  as  frankly  as  he  told  others  of  their  sins  and 
conceits;  he  represented  in  a  measure  "the  power  and 
spirit  of  Elias."  Elijah  in  his  day  censured  kings 
and  queens;  and  John  like  the  illustrious  Elijah  was 
a  terror  to  evil  doers.  He  came  preaching  in  the 
wilderness  of  Judea.  "And  saying,  Repent  ye:  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  Repentance  is 
the  first  step  in  the  regeneration  of  the  soul  of  man. 
It  means  a  willingness  to  abandon  the  spirit  of  the 
world;  it  is  an  abandonment  of  the  carnal  life.  He 
repents  who  abandons  the  Egyptian  life,  the  sensuous, 
idolatrous  life ;  and  flees  into  the  wilderness.  He  alone 
35o 


John  the  Baptist  351 

repents  who  is  willing  to  suffer  and  does  suffer  for  the 
cause  of  truth  and  virtue;  all  else  is  a  pretense.  He 
repents  who  represents  in  his  own  life  "the  power 
and  spirit  of  Elias." 

The  first  step  toward  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law  is 
repentance;  and  this  state  of  mind  is  not  represented 
in  a  mere  perfunctory  consent,  or  pretended  belief 
in  this  or  that  dogma;  but  it  does  consist  in  a  candid 
conviction  that  finds  expression  in  the  feelings.  "As 
a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart  so  is  he."  The  heart  is 
the  life  center;  and  when  the  affections  are  thoroughly 
aroused  on  the  side  of  virtue,  then  does  the  soul  of  man 
manifest  the  power  and  spirit  of  Elias.  The  consent 
of  the  mind  is  not  enough  to  cause  one  to  break  with 
the  world;  it  is  only  when  the  mind  is  urged  on  by 
righteous  feelings  that  man  bids  adieu  to  the  carnal 
life  of  Egypt,  and  turns  his  face  toward  the  wilderness, 
and  passes  through  the  Red  Sea.  He  repents  who  feels 
in  his  heart  that  he  should  seek  the  Law  and  do  it; 
and  proceeds  to  act  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elias. 

"Ezra  had  prepared  his  heart  to  seek  the  Law  of  the 
Lord,  and  to  do  it"  (Ezra  7:  10).  That  resolve,  of  the 
mind  and  heart,  called  in  the  Scriptures,  repentance, 
when  entered  into  with  all  earnestness,  in  the  spirit 
of  Elias,  and  followed  to  its  ultimate  consequences 
changes  the  soul  "from  character  to  character."  It 
is  a  process  whereby  "the  inward  man  is  renewed 
day  by  day."  Evolution,  as  Charles  Darwin  has  well 
said,  proceeds  by  "numerous,  successive,  and  slight 
modifications."  The  Law  of  Human  Life,  the  Law  of 
Moses,  the  Law  of  Jehovah,  is  the  Law  of  Evolution 
operating  within  the  soul  of  man.  It  first  operates  in 
an  evironmental  way  through  precepts,  inhibitions, 
and  commands  imposed  from  without;  and  lastly  the 


352  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

drama  of  salvation  is  transferred  from  without  to 
within  the  soul  itself.  When  the  soul  is  given  a  righteous 
self -direction  from  within;  then,  is  the  Law  of  Heaven 
written  in  the  heart.  There  is  a  Law  that  inheres  in 
the  human  soul.  Obedience  to  it  is  the  condition  of 
Life ;  it  is  the  Law  of  Heaven ;  because  it  rests  not  upon 
human  consent.  "From  his  hand  went  forth  a  fiery 
Law  for  them"  (Deut.  33:  2;  Isa.  51 :  4). 

Repentance  initiates  the  work  of  the  inner  Law. 
"Behold,  I  will  send  you  Elias  the  prophet  before  the 
coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord" 
(MaL  4:5).  The  office  of  John  the  Baptist  was  to  wake 
the  people  out  of  a  state  of  death,  out  of  the  "Gentile 
state"  of  consciousness.  The  Gentiles,  according  to 
the  symbolism  of  the  Scriptures,  live  in  Egypt  and  in 
Sodom.  Paul,  who  was  a  Jew  by  birth,  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Ephesians  (2:3,  n)  said:  "Then  were  we  in 
our  Gentile  state,  fulfilling  the  desires  of  the  flesh  and 
of  the  mind."  John  knew  that  "they  are  not  all 
Israelites  who  are  of  Israel."  He  told  the  Pharisees 
that  descent  from  Abraham  could  not  take  the  place 
of  character  (Luke  3:7-9).  Obedience  to  the  Law 
of  Human  Life  works  a  change  of  character;  it  changes 
the  Gentile  into  a  Jew.  "He  is  a  Jew  who  is  one  in- 
wardly." "In  Abraham  shall  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  be  blessed  "  (Gen.  12:3).  Abraham  and  Sarah 
are  the  father  and  mother  of  nations.  The  divine 
Sarah,  the  Hebrew  Minerva,  is  imperative:  "Cast 
out  the  bondwoman  and  her  son:  for  the  son  of  the 
bondwoman  shall  not  be  heir  with  my  son,  even  with 
Isaac."  This  is  the  Law  of  Heaven. 

According  to  the  Scriptures,  there  are  but  two 
nations:  the  Gentiles  and  the  Israelites.  Rebekah  is 
the  mother  of  two  nations  (Gen.  25:23).  These  two 


John  the  Baptist  353 

nations  are  represented  in  Cain  and  Abel,  in  Ishmael 
and  Isaac,  and  in  Esau  and  Jacob.  The  Gentile  is  the 
first-born  in  time, but  the  last-born  in  power;  the  Gentile 
is  the  first-born,  the  Israelite  is  the  twice-born.  "That 
which  is  natural  is  first,  then  that  which  is  spiritual." 
"The  first  shall  be  last,  and  the  last  shall  be  first." 
In  a  word,  the  carnally  minded  of  all  nations  are 
Gentiles;  and  the  spiritually  minded  of  all  nations 
are  Israelites. 

"From  my  youth  I  have  heard  in  the  tribe  of  my 
family,  that  thou,  0  Lord,  took  Israel  from  among  all 
people,  and  our  fathers  from  among  all  their  prede- 
cessors" (Esther  14:  5;  Jesus  Son  of  Sir.  24:  6).  "And 
there  dwelt  in  Jerusalem  Jews,  devout  men,  out  of 
every  nation  under  heaven"  (Acts  2:5;  13:16).  All 
devout  men  are  inwardly  Jews.  "Salvation  is  of 
the  Jews";  salvation  is  of  the  just.  "O  Israel,  happy 
are  we:  for  the  things  that  are  pleasing  to  God  are 
made  known  unto  us"  (Baruch  4:4).  Happy  are  the 
just ;  for  the  things  that  are  pleasing  to  God  are  made 
manifest  to  them  (Rom.  1:19).  Israel  is  "out  of 
every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation" 
(Rev.  5:9).  God  essayed  to  "take  him  a  nation  from 
the  midst  of  another  nation"  (Deut.  4:  34).  Israelites 
are  they  "that  are  escaped  of  the  nations"  (Isa. 
45:20).  Religion  is  founded  in  righteousness;  it  is  a 
condition  of  the  inner  man,  of  the  soul  itself;  all  the  pure 
in  heart  are  possessed  of  the  faith  of  Abraham,  and  are 
his  children.  Paul  took  occasion  to  emphasize  this 
truth.  "Know  ye  therefore  that  they  who  are  of  faith, 
the  same  are  the  children  of  Abraham"  (Gal.  3:7). 
Jehovah  is  a  just  God.  He  puts  His  Spirit  and 
power  upon  the  just  of  all  nations.  "My  glory  will 
I  not  give  to  another"  (Isa.  42:  i,  8). 


354  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

John  the  Baptist  "preached  the  baptism  of  repent- 
ance for  the  remission  of  sins."  This  seems  to  have 
been  his  office.  Baptism  with  water  is  a  symbol ;  it  is 
descriptive  of  them  who  have  escaped  the  "Gentile 
state"  of  consciousness.  Water  is  a  symbol  of  carnal 
mind;  the  regenerate  are  they  that  are  drawn  out  of 
the  water  (2  Sam.  22:  17;  Ps.  18:  16;  144:  7).  Moses 
is  the  name  of  him  who  was  drawn  out  of  the  water  of 
the  Nile.  Jesus  was  baptized  of  John,  and  came  up 
out  of  the  water.  Coming  out  of  the  water,  or  coming 
through  the  water  is  a  symbol  expressive  of  rebirth. 
Jesus  expressed  this  truth  in  his  conversation  with 
Nicodemus:  "Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of 
the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 
Except  a  man  escape  the  carnal  life  of  Egypt,  and  pass 
by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  live  in  obedience  to 
the  Law  of  Human  Life,  he  cannot  attain  to  the  spiritual 
state  of  consciousness.  Man  must  live  worthy  of 
the  promised  land  if  he  would  attain  to  it.  "The 
remission  of  sins,"  or  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  here 
spoken  of,  is  the  reward  of  him  who  abandons  the 
sensuous  animalized  life  of  the  Gentiles,  of  the  Egyp- 
tians. The  baptism  of  John  is  a  symbol  of  such  aban- 
donment. 

They  who  passed  the  Red  Sea  "were  all  baptized 
unto  Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea"  (i  Cor.  10:  2). 
Elisha  administered  baptism  to  his  Master.  He ' '  poured 
water  upon  the  hands  of  Elijah"  (2  Kings  3:11). 
Elisha's  command  to  "Naaman  the  Syrian"  (Luke 
4:  27)  is  the  symbol  of  baptism.  "Wash  and  be  clean. 
Then  went  he  down,  and  dipped  himself  seven  times 
in  the  Jordan"  (2  Kings  5:  14).  Baptism  with  water  is 
the  symbol  whereby  a  Gentile  is  changed  into  a  Jew, 
or  Israelite.  Circumcision  of  the  flesh,  and  baptism 


John  the  Baptist  355 

with  water,  are  symbols  expressive  of  the  same  great 
truth,  to  wit:  the  "putting  off"  of  the  carnal,  the  "cas- 
ting out  of  the  bondwoman  and  her  son, "  for  the  bond- 
woman's son  can  not  inherit  the  blessings  of  Heaven. 

The  bondwoman's  son  is  the  representative  of  carnal 
mind ;  he  is  a  Gentile.  If  a  Gentile  wanted  to  become  a 
Jew,  he  was  baptized  with  water,  and  by  this  act  it  was 
understood  that  he  had  abandoned  the  carnal  life. 
"He  is  a  Jew  which  is  one  inwardly"  (Rom.  2:29). 
Circumcision  of  the  flesh  and  baptism  with  water  are 
identical  in  this,  that  they  certify,  or  are  intended  to 
certify,  to  the  abandonment  of  the  spirit  of  the  world; 
and  these  symbols  had  a  fixed  and  certain  meaning 
centuries  before  the  coming  of  John  the  Baptist. 
John  lived  and  taught  no  new  doctrine.  No  question 
seems  to  have  been  asked  about  the  origin,  form,  or 
nature  of  the  baptism  which  he  administered;  its 
regularity  was  conceded.  Repentance,  or  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  sensuous  life,  is  an  essential  and  indis- 
pensable step  in  the  fulfillment  of  righteousness.  Jesus, 
when  requesting  baptism  at  the  hand  of  John,  said: 
"Thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfill  all  righteousness" 
(Matt.  3:  15).  The  flesh  that  was  circumcised  was 
cast  away;  this  ceremony,  like  the  act  of  baptism,  was 
an  act  indicative  of  the  "putting  off"  of  the  "fleshly 
lusts  that  war  against  the  soul."  In  the  language  of 
Paul,  it  was  "the  putting  off  from  the  body  the  sins  of 
the  flesh  "  (Col.  2:11).  Justin  Martyr,  who  lived  shortly 
after  the  coming  of  John,  summed  up  this  idea  in  a 
sentence,  when  commenting  on  the  language  of  Paul 
just  quoted,  he  said:  "We  are  circumcised  by  baptism" 

Baptism,  like  circumcision,  is  an  emblem  of  regenera- 
tion, of  purity,  and  of  conformity  to  the  will  of  God. 
What  shall  we  say  of  him  who  takes  the  vow  of  regenera- 


356  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

tion,  and  yet  continues  to  live  the  sensual  life?  There 
is  but  one  answer.  He  is  a  liar  and  a  hypocrite. 
Peter  tells  us  that  baptism  is  a  "figure";  and  refers 
to  the  allegory  of  Noah  and  the  ark,  and  says:  "The 
ark  was  a  preparing,  wherein  eight  persons  were  saved 
by  water"  (i  Peter  3:  20,  21).  It  is  true  that  baptism 
is  a  "figure,"  or  symbol;  but  it  is  equally  true  that  he 
who  lives  a  life  obedient  to  all  that  this  symbol  repre- 
sents obtains  added  life  and  strength  from  day  to  day. 
It  stands  for  the  process  whereby  "The  inward  man  is 
renewed  day  by  day."  Maimonides,  when  commenting 
on  the  process  whereby  a  Gentile  became  a  Jew  in 
mind  and  heart,  said:  "The  Gentile  that  is  made  a 
proselyte  .  .  .  behold,  he  is  like  a  child  new-born." 
Baptism  is  a  symbol  that  foreshadows  the  rebirth,  the 
resurrection.  This  resurrection  from  the  dead,  this 
rebirth  is  beautifully  illustrated  in  the  baptism  of 
Jesus;  for  it  is  written  that  as  Jesus  "went  up  straight- 
way out  of  the  water,"  the  heavens  opened;  and  a 
voice  spoke  from  above,  saying,  "This  is  my  beloved 
Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased"  (Matt.  3:16,  17). 
This  is  a  beautiful  figure  of  speech  descriptive  of  the 
descent  of  the  Spirit  symbolized  by  the  dove.  The 
Spirit  of  God  descends  upon  all  the  just;  for  all  is  of 
God  (i  Cor.  4:7).  "Who  shall  forbid  water,  seeing 
these  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as  we?" 
(Acts  10:47).  Baptism,  like  circumcision,  is  a  symbol 
of  religious  fellowship ;  it  is  expressive  of  the  Fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  "Who  shall 
forbid  water?"  Who  would  deny  this  visible  and  no- 
torious ceremony  to  any  who  are  willing  and  desirous 
to  live  clean  and  virtuous  lives? 

Abram  was   not   circumcised   until   his  name   was 
changed    to   Abraham.     Circumcision,    like    baptism, 


John  the  Baptist  357 

is  a  seal  of  regeneration.  "In  the  self -same  day  [that 
Ishmael  was  circumcised]  was  Abraham  circumcised" 
(Gen.  17:26).  Ishmael,  the  son  of  the  bondwoman, 
"was  thirteen  years  old,  when  he  was  circumcised" 
(Gen.  17:  25).  He  was  born  before  Abram's  name 
was  changed  to  Abraham;  he  was  born  a  Gentile, 
and  on  reaching  the  age  of  discretion,  he  is  entitled  to 
make  his  choice ;  and  thus  he  became  the  legitimate  son 
of  Abraham  and  Sarah.  Isaac  is  the  child  of  promise; 
he  is  counted  for  the  seed  (Rom.  9:  7,  8) ;  he  is  born  of 
regenerate  parents ;  he  is  predisposed  to  virtue  from  his 
birth;  he  is  predisposed  to  the  spiritual  life  from  child- 
hood; and  is  dedicated  to  this  life  when  eight  days 
old.  "And  Abraham  circumcised  his  son  Isaac  when 
eight  days  old,  as  God  had  commanded  him"  (Gen. 
21:4).  God,  through  his  servants,  the  prophets,  has 
commanded  all  men  to  abandon  the  sensuous  life,  and 
to  live  lives  of  virtue. 

The  symbolism  of  the  New  Testament  is  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  Old;  and  it  is  our  duty  to  interpret  these 
symbols  in  the  light  of  reason  and  of  human  experience. 
Baptism,  like  circumcision,  is  a  symbol  that  fore- 
shadows the  virgin,  the  spiritual  birth.  Except  ye 
abandon  the  sensuous  and  carnal  life  absolutely, 
except  ye  live  the  regenerate  life,  you  can  not  attain 
to  the  spiritual  state  of  consciousness  called  the  King- 
dom of  God  (John  3 :  3-5) .  Men  are  irreligious  because 
their  lives  are  low  and  animal ;  all  such  must  pass  by  the 
way  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  of  Sinai ;  they  must  be  baptized 
unto  Moses  in  the  cloud,  and  must  experience  the 
descent  of  the  fire  at  Sinai,  before  they  are  fit  to  enter 
the  promised  land  (i  Cor.  10:2).  They  "shall  be 
clean  from  all  filthiness, "  when  they  come  to  live  in  the 
promised  land  (Ezek.  36:  24-28). 


358  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

John  the  Baptist,  like  the  fearless  Elijah,  is  the 
faithful  representative  of  that  irrepressible  voice  that  is 
forever  crying  in  the  wilderness,  and  saying,  "Repent 
ye:  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand;  prepare  ye 
the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  His  paths  straight."  This 
voice  is  forever  present  in  the  world.  It  comes  in 
the  spirit  and  power  of  Elias,  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the 
fathers  to  the  children,  and  the  disobedient  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  just;  and  to  make  ready  a  people  for 
the  Lord  (Mai.  4:5,  6;  Luke  1 :  17).  There  is  a  tradi- 
tion that  Elijah  abides  in  the  desert.  The  wilderness 
is  between  Egypt  and  the  promised  land;  none  can  go 
to  the  promised  land  except  by  the  way  of  the  desert. 
Elijah  rules  in  the  desert;  and  according  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, it  is  there  that  man  first  comes  under  the  control 
of  Heaven's  appointed  disciplinarian;  it  is  there  that 
man  first  confesses  his  sins  and  offers  his  sacrifice; 
it  is  there  that  the  escaped  of  Egypt,  the  Israelites, 
celebrate  their  first  great  sacrifice  (Ex.  5 :  3) ;  it  is  there 
that  man  must  repent  and  be  baptized,  if  he  would 
proceed  on  his  journey  to  the  promised  land;  it  is 
there  that  he  must  make  ready  for  the  "third  day"; 
for  "the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the 
Lord"  (Mai.  4:5). 

"Repent  ye;  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 
The  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  the  kingdom  of  spiritual 
consciousness,  is  "at  hand"  to  every  one  who  abandons 
the  carnal  life,  and  is  imbued  with  the  spirit  and  power 
of  Elias;  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand,  to  him 
who  lives  the  simple  life,  and  is  just  in  mind  and  heart, 
and  has  his  loins  girded;  it  is  at  hand  to  him  who  is 
clothed  in  a  raiment  of  camel's  hair,  and  wears  a  leather 
girdle  about  his  loins  (Matt.  3:4).  "Blessed  are  the 
poor  in  spirit:  for  their  reward  is  the  Kingdom  of 


John  the  Baptist  359 

Heaven."  Blessed  are  they  who  are  depleted  of  the 
spirit  of  the  world ;  blessed  are  they  who  have  abandoned 
the  luxurious  and  sensuous  and  animalized  spirit  of 
Egypt.  Blessed  are  they  who  are  dead  to  the  spirit 
of  the  world,  and  are  willing  to  sacrifice  all  for  the  good 
of  all.  Cursed  are  they  who  persist  in  living  the 
sensuous  life,  knowing  that  it  brings  evil  upon  them 
and  others;  cursed  are  they  who  are  willing  to  exploit 
others  for  their  own  exaltation  and  sensuous  pleasures; 
cursed  are  they  who  are  willing  to  sacrifice  all  in  order 
to  win  station,  and  power,  and  fame  in  the  world. 
Whosoever  would  save  his  life  by  worldly  glory  shall 
lose  it;  and  whosoever  shall  sacrifice  his  worldly  life, 
in  order  to  live  the  higher  life,  shall  save  his  soul  (Mark 

8:35). 

"Behold  there  is  a  people  come  out  of  Egypt";  but 
the  descendants  of  this  people  were  lapsed  into  the 
"Gentile  state"  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  John. 
The  Jewish  people,  perhaps,  have  never  been  at  any 
time  since  the  days  of  Moses  wholly  neglectful  of  their 
ancient  faith,  but  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  a 
strict  adherence  to  their  ancient  ideals  has  been  the 
exception  and  not  the  rule.  Very  few  indeed  of  Israel's 
kings  are  said  to  have  lived  exemplary  lives.  In  fact 
it  may  be  said  that  the  great  mass  of  the  Jewish  people 
have  lived  in  the  Gentile  state,  and  have  fulfilled  the 
desires  of  the  flesh,  and  that  this  state  has  only  occasion- 
ally been  interrupted  by  the  coming  of  some  great 
prophet  who  has  attempted  to  bring  Israel  back  to 
"old  paths,"  to  the  faith  of  the  elect. 

John  preached  the  "baptism  of  repentance  to  all  the 
people  of  Israel"  (Acts  13:24).  He  preached  in  the 
wilderness  of  Judea.  John  was  a  Jew,  and  like  his 
illustrious  successor,  he  sought  first  of  all  to  reclaim 


360  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  lost  sheep  of  Israel.  John  sought  to  prepare  a 
people  for  the  coming  of  a  Master.  The  Jews  were  the 
approachable.  "It  is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's 
bread  and  cast  it  to  the  dogs."  "Neither  cast  your 
pearls  before  swine,  lest  they  trample  them  under 
their  feet,  and  turn  again  and  rend  you."  They  who 
have  dared  to  stand  for  a  life  of  virtue,  and  to  speak 
the  truth  in  any  presence,  have  been  slandered, 
maligned,  assaulted,  crucified,  poisoned,  or  otherwise 
destroyed  the  world  over  by  the  conceited  and  animal- 
ized.  "Dogs  have  compassed  me:  the  assembly  of 
the  wicked  have  enclosed  me:  they  pierced  my  hands 
and  my  feet,"  said  the  Psalmist.  "Cast  not  your 
pearls  before  swine  lest  they  rend  you."  John  himself 
was  rent  by  those  who  lived  the  sensuous,  swinish  life ; 
for  it  is  written  that  his  head  was  separated  from  his 
body,  and  carried  into  the  presence  of  those  in  attend- 
ance at  a  Bacchanalian  feast,  and  presented  to  a  dancing 
girl  (Matt.  14:6-11). 

The  truth  can  be  communicated  only  to  those  who  are 
prepared  to  receive  it.  The  corrupt,  the  debauched, 
the  animalized,  have  no  knowledge  of  spiritual  things. 
Their  souls  are  not  related  to  the  spiritual  kingdom; 
they  have  no  moral  courage.  Valor  is  represented  in 
purity  of  heart;  the  pure  in  heart  are  dauntless;  they 
do  not  stand  in  fear  of  what  man  can  do  to  them;  they 
alone  fear  God.  "The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with 
them  that  fear  Him"  (Ps.  25:  14;  50:  16;  Dan.  12: 10). 
Obedience  to  Heaven's  Law  is  the  condition  of  all 
higher  knowledge.  "I  know  more  than  the  ancients, 
because  I  keep  thy  precepts"  (Ps.  119:  97-104).  Jesus' 
disciples  were  Jews;  they  were  the  descendants  of  the 
elect.  They  were  evidently  chosen  because  of  their 
preparedness  to  receive  the  truth,  yet  it  appears  that 


John  the  Baptist  361 

they  were  slow  of  comprehension.  "I  have  many 
things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now" 
(John  16:  12). 

"I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water;  but  another  might- 
ier than  I  cometh  ...  he  shall  baptize  you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire."  Fire  and  water  are  the 
two  great  cleansing  elements  in  nature.  "Everything 
that  may  abide  the  fire,  ye  shall  make  it  go  through  the 
fire,  and  it  shall  be  clean:  nevertheless  it  shall  be 
purified  with  the  water  of  separation:  and  all  that 
abideth  not  the  fire  ye  shall  make  go  through  the 
water"  (Num.  31:23;  Isa.  48:10;  Mai.  3:2,  3;  Ps. 
66:  10;  Zech.  13:9).  Baptism  with  water  precedes 
baptism  with  fire.  Man  must  pass  by  the  way  of  the 
Red  Sea,  if  he  would  be  prepared  for  the  fiery  ordeal  of 
Sinai.  He  who  would  attain  to  perfection  must  abide 
the  water  and  the  fire.  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee, 
Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he 
cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 

A  man's  character  and  power  are  revealed  in  the 
religious  work  which  he  does.  John  preached  repent- 
ance, and  baptized  his  converts  with  water.  His  work 
was  preparatory.  When  Jesus  asks  to  be  baptized 
of  John,  "John  forbade  him,  saying,  I  have  need  to  be 
baptized  of  thee"  (Matt.  3:  14).  John  it  would  seem 
had  not  experienced  the  baptism  with  fire.  Josephus, 
the  Jewish  historian,  says  that  John  the  Baptist  was  a 
good  man,  that  he  admonished  the  Jews  to  cultivate 
righteousness,  and  good  fellowship,  and  piety  toward 
God,  and  that  he  enjoined  the  right  of  baptism.  John  is 
represented  as  a  righteous  man,  a  just  man  (Matt.  21 : 32 ; 
Mark  6 :  20) .  If  we  would  know  something  of  the  charac- 
ter of  John,  we  should  contemplate  him  in  the  light  of  the 
religious  office  he  performed,  and  the  estimate  that  he 


362  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

placed  upon  himself.  The  story  of  John  in  the  Scrip- 
tures is  attended  with  much  legendary  embellishment. 
Sacred  legends  are  born  of  religious  enthusiasm;  they 
are  the  creations  of  poetic  minds;  and  are,  therefore, 
not  to  be  treated  always  as  serious  statements  of  fact. 
It  is,  therefore,  important  that  we  have  some  rational 
idea  of  his  character  and  office. 

In  Matthew  (11:11),  it  is  written,  "Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  Among  them  that  are  born  of  women  there 
hath  not  arisen  a  greater  than  John  the  Baptist; 
notwithstanding  he  that  is  least  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  greater  than  he."  Language  similar  in 
some  regards  occurs  in  Luke  (7:28),  "Among  those 
that  are  born  of  women  there  is  not  a  greater  prophet 
than  John  the  Baptist;  but  he  that  is  least  in  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  greater  than  he."  It  therefore 
appears  that  John  had  not  been  born  into  the  Kingdom 
of  God  at  the  time  of  his  ministry  on  earth;  and  since 
the  prophets  are  they  who  are  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  and  are  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  it 
would  seem  that  the  word  "prophet"  in  the  verse 
quoted  (Luke  7 :  28)  is  irrelevant. 

Jesus  is  made  to  say  that  John  is  "more  than  a 
prophet"  (Matt.  11:9);  "and  much  more  than  a 
prophet"  (Luke  7:26).  We  do  not  believe  that 
Jesus  ever  said  what  he  is  here  reported  to  have  said; 
for  the  reason  that  John  did  not  belong  to  the  true 
race  of  prophets.  There  is  nothing  to  show  that  he 
had  been  baptized  with  fire,  but  there  are  Scriptures 
showing  that  he  had  not.  "/  have  need  to  be  baptized 
of  thee"  It  seems  that  the  eloquent  Apollos  "knew 
only  the  baptism  of  John"  (Acts  18:  25) ;  and  that  the 
disciples  of,  John,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  did  not 
know  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  baptism  with  the 


John  the  Baptist  363 

Holy  Ghost.  "  We  have  not  so  much  as  heard  whether 
there  be  any  Holy  Ghost"  (Acts  19:  1-6).  "Jesus 
Christ  belonged  to  the  true  race  of  prophets,"  as 
Emerson  has  said.  He  was  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  like  Joseph,  and  Moses,  and  all  the  great;  he 
was  a  "priest  after  the  order  of  Melchisedec."  The 
great  prophets  are  they  who  constitute  this  holy  order; 
they  are  the  sons  of  God;  they  are  the  heirs  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven;  they  baptize  with  fire  and  thus 
relate  men  to  the  Kingdom  of  God.  But  since  the 
order  of  Melchisedec  is  considered  at  some  length  in 
the  chapter  devoted  to  the  Life  and  Character  of  Jesus, 
it  is  not  now  necessary  to  speak  further  concerning 
that  holy  fraternity  that  is  commissioned  of  Heaven  to 
preach  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  terms  of 
positive  knowledge. 

Jesus  in  the  parable  of  the  vineyard  (Luke  20:  4-16; 
Matt.  21 : 32-41)  taught,  it  would  seem,  that  John  the 
Baptist  was  a  faithful  servant  of  God,  but  not  a  son  of 
God.  It  is  here  written  that  a  certain  householder 
which  had  planted  a  vineyard,  and  improved  it,  "let 
it  out  to  husbandmen,"  to  keepers;  and  when  the  time 
of  the  harvesting  of  the  fruit  drew  nigh,  he  sent  his 
servants,  "that  they  might  receive  the  fruit  of  the 
vineyard";  but  the  servants  so  sent  were  beaten,  and 
stoned,  and  cast  out.  Then  it  was  that  the  owner  of 
the  vineyard  sent  "his  beloved  son"  (Luke  20: 13), 
"the  heir"  (Matt.  21 :  38).  This  parable  was  intended 
to  teach,  and  does  teach,  as  we  believe,  that  the  priests, 
and  scribes,  and  Pharisees,  the  keepers  of  the  vineyard, 
were  unfaithful  in  this  that  they  beat,  and  stoned,  and 
cast  out  the  servants  of  God;  and  that  John  the  Baptist 
was  a  servant  of  God,  but  not  a  son;  and  that  Jesus 
himself  was  a  son  of  God,  and  an  heir  of  His  kingdom. 


364  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

It  is  said  that  the  "multitude  counted  John  as  a 
prophet"  (Matt  14:  5;  Luke  20:  6).  There  is  a  passage 
in  John  (i :  21)  that  some  have  translated  thus:  "And 
they  asked  John,  What  then?  Art  thou  Elijah?  And 
he  saith,  I  am  not.  Art  thou  a  prophet?  And  he 
answered,  No."  Prophecy  takes  a  wide  range,  and  is 
difficult  of  definition,  but  we  do  feel,  that  it  can  be 
said  with  reasonable  certainty,  that  John  the  Baptist 
did  not  belong  to  the  race  of  prophets  to  which  Mel- 
chisedec  and  Moses  and  Jesus  Christ  belonged.  We 
feel  that  we  should  believe  those  things  in  the  Scriptures 
that  conform  to  reason,  experience,  and  the  known 
truths  of  science ;  therefore,  we  do  not  feel  that  we  are 
called  on  to  believe  statements  that  are  at  variance 
with  the  general  intent  of  the  Scriptures;  that  inter- 
pretation is  evidently  the  best  which  shows  the  Scrip- 
tures to  be  consistent  and  scientific  in  their  general 
intent. 

The  purification  of  the  flesh,  outward  cleanliness, 
may  proceed  apace,  and  attain  to  an  early  fulfillment; 
for  every  intelligent  person  is  privileged  to  escape 
government  by  precepts,  government  from  without; 
but  when  the  drama  of  salvation  is  transferred  from  the 
observance  of  precepts,  to  a  government  from  within 
the  soul  itself,  then  is  Christ  in  the  process  of  forma- 
tion. "I  am  in  travail,"  said  Paul,  "till  Christ  be 
formed,  in  you"  (Gal.  4:19).  When  the  mind  is 
purified,  when  it  is  lifted  above  the  things  of  the  sensuous 
world,  there  seems  to  be  no  end  of  its  enlargement. 
"Of  the  increase  of  his  government  and  peace  there 
shall  be  no  end"  (Isa.  9:  7).  Baptism  with  water  is  a 
symbol  that  bespeaks  the  purification  of  the  flesh; 
baptism  with  fire,  the  purification  of  the  spirit,  the 
mind.  "Let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of 


John  the  Baptist  365 

the  flesh  and  spirit"  (2  Cor.  7:1).  This  leads  us  to  an 
understanding  of  the  office  of  John  the  Baptist.  ' '  There 
arose  a  question  between  some  of  John's  disciples 
and  the  Jews  about  purifying.  .  .  .  John  answered 
and  said,  a  man  can  receive  nothing,  except  it  be  given 
him  from  Heaven.  ...  He  must  increase,  but  I  must 
decrease"  (John  3 :  25,  27,  30).  It  is  the  duty  of  every 
one  to  make  clean  the  outer  man;  but  it  should  be 
remembered  that  human  greatness  consists  in  the 
perfection  of  the  inner  man.  "For  I  delight  in  the 
Law  of  God  after  the  inward  man"  (Rom.  7:22). 
It  is  on  the  mental  plane  that  man  is  to  find  "the  in- 
crease of  his  government  and  peace." 

John  was  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness.  "He 
preached  the  baptism  of  repentance  for  the  remission 
of  sins"  (Mark.  1 :  3,  4).  He  warned  men  "to  flee  from 
the  wrath  to  come";  from  the  wrath  that  forever  over- 
takes the  wicked  and  ungodly  (Matt.  3:7).  John 
did  not  claim  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  "the  lamb  of 
God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world"  (John 
i :  29).  The  Word  of  God  is  in  the  mouth  of  the  resur- 
rected. Peter  found  the  tribute  money  in  the  mouth 
of  the  fish  that  he  drew  out  of  the  water  (Matt.  17: 
24-27) .  Savonarola,  often  called  a  prophet  of  righteous- 
ness, and  whose  simple  and  ascetic  life  resembled  that 
of  John  the  Baptist,  said:  "I  cannot  enlighten  you 
inwardly,  I  can  only  strike  upon  your  ears;  but  what 
may  that  avail  if  your  intellect  be  not  enlightened  nor 
your  affections  kindled?"  How  can  the  voice  avail, 
if  there  be  no  cleanliness  of  life,  no  illumination  within? 
But  the  Scriptures  tell  us  of  the  twice-born,  of  the 
resurrected,  who  are  more  than  a  voice;  for  they  are 
the  organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Frederick  W.  Robertson,   the  famous  clergyman  of 


366  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Brighton,  England,  delivered  a  series  of  lectures  in 
1851-2-3  on  the  Epistles  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians; 
and  in  his  forty-ninth  lecture,  he  spoke  on  the  text: 
"Let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the 
flesh  and  spirit"  (2  Cor.  7:1),  and  when  speaking  of 
the  Law  he  said:  "The  Jewish  Law  required  only 
the  purification  of  the  flesh;  the  Gospel,  which  is  the 
inner  spirit  of  the  Law,  demands  the  purification  of 
the  spirit.  The  distinction  is  made  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  (9:  13,  14)." 

The  sacrifice  of  the  animals  at  the  door  of  the  tab- 
ernacle tells  the  whole  story  of  human  salvation,  just 
as  the  story  of  Jesus  driving  the  animals  and  the 
money-changers  out  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  tells 
it  (John  2:  14-16).  The  sacrifice  of  the  animals  at  the 
tabernacle,  like  the  purging  of  the  temple  from  all  that 
was  animal,  is  an  illustration  of  that  great  principle 
which  lies  at  the  very  heart  of  the  religion  of  Israel, 
to  wit:  the  freeing  of  the  soul  and  mind  of  man  from 
all  vestiges  of  animalism.  Anger,  envy,  hate,  malice, 
revenge,  lust,  hypocrisy,  greed,  falsehood,  cruelty,  and 
murder  are  some  of  the  devils,  some  of  the  vestiges  of 
animalism  that  inhere  in  the  souls  of  unregenerate 
man.  .  .  .  The  soul  of  man  is  the  tabernacle  of  God. 
"  Make  not  my  Father's  house  an  house  of  merchandise  " 
(John  2: 16). 

Of  course,  there  comes  a  time  in  the  evolution  of  the 
soul  of  man  when  precepts,  commands,  and  inhibitions; 
and  ocular  demonstrations  like  the  sacrifice  of  the 
animals  at  the  tabernacle  and  the  purging  of  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem,  are  no  longer  of  use  to  him;  and  this 
higher  state  in  the  evolution  of  the  soul  of  man  is 
fittingly  described  in  the  fortieth  Psalm,  and  in  the 
tenth  chapter  of  Hebrews.  In  a  word,  there  comes  a 


John  the  Baptist  367 

time  when  the  whole  drama  of  salvation  is  transferred 
from  things  outward  to  a  righteous  self-direction  from 
within  the  soul  itself.  "Sacrifice  and  offering  thou 
didst  not  desire;  mine  ears  hast  thou  opened:  burnt 
offering  and  sin  offering  hast  thou  not  required.  Then 
said  I,  Lo,  I  come  [I  now  understand] :  in  the  volume 
of  the  book  it  is  written  of  me,  I  delight  to  do  thy  will, 
O  my  God:  yea,  the  Law  is  within  my  heart"  (Ps. 
40:6-8;  Heb.  10:  1-8).  It  seems,  therefore,  entirely 
clear  that  Moses,  the  giver  of  the  Law,  and  all  the 
great  prophets  of  old,  were  fully  cognizant  of  what  the 
reverent  and  god-fearing  Frederick  W.  Robertson  was 
pleased  to  call  "the  inner  spirit  of  the  Law." 

Jesus  Christ,  like  all  the  great  Masters  who  had 
preceded  him,  sought  to  relate  men  to  the  Kingdom  of 
God ;  and  thus  to  make  them  organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
"When  Paul  laid  his  hands  upon  the  disciples  of  John, 
the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon  them;  and  they  spake  with 
tongues,  and  prophesied"  (Acts  19:6).  Peter,  while 
living  in  the  world,  was  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit 
(John  3:5).  He  was  surnamed  Bar-Jona  (the  son  of 
the  dove).  The  change  of  his  name  was  a  certification 
of  his  re-birth.  Simon  Bar-Jona,  while  living  in  the 
flesh,  was  related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  was  an 
organ  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  "As  I  began  speaking,  the 
Holy  Ghost  fell  upon  them,  as  on  us  at  the  beginning. 
Then  remembered  I  the  words  of  the  Lord,  how  that  he 
said,  John  indeed  baptized  with  water,  but  ye  shall 
baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost "  (Acts  1 1 : 15,  16) .  There 
is  a  spiritual  power  which  attends  the  ministrations  of 
those  who  are  born  into  the  Kingdom  of  God;  they  are 
the  sons  of  God,  the  sons  of  the  Spirit,  symbolized  by 
the  dove;  and  they  make  manifest  the  power  and  glory 
of  God  the  Father.  It  is  written  that  the  power  and 


368  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

glory,  the  Spirit  which  attended  Moses,  was  communi- 
cated to  the  seventy  elders,  the  seventy  wise  men: 
"and  it  came  to  pass,  that,  when  the  Spirit  rested  upon 
them,  they  prophesied"  (Num.  n  :  25). 

To  the  conceited,  the  sensual,  the  mocking,  the 
animalized,  the  Christly  life,  the  life  that  is  crucified 
to  the  world,  is  a  stumbling-block  and  foolishness; 
"but  unto  them  which  are  called"  [which  are  awakened 
out  of  a  state  of  sensuality  and  death],  Christ  repre- 
sents "the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God" 
(i  Cor.  1:23,  24).  We  do  not  believe  that  John  the 
Baptist  was  an  organ  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  was  Moses, 
and  Elias,  and  Jesus.  He  was  evidently  a  God-fearing 
man  as  both  the  Scriptures  and  history  record;  and  he 
did  what  he  could  toward  the  restoration  of  the  ancient 
faith  of  Israel,  and  thus  in  some  real  measure,  he 
represented  "the  spirit  and  power  of  Elias"  (Luke 
i:  17;  Matt.  17:  u). 

Legends  are  often  woven  about  the  lives  of  distin- 
guished persons;  and  perhaps,  the  life  of  no  person 
named  in  the  Scriptures,  and  who  lived  in  the  time  of 
Jesus  or  before,  has  been  the  theme  of  more  legendary 
comment,  than  John  the  Baptist.  This  may  be  ac- 
counted for  from  the  fact  that  during  the  lifetime  of 
John,  there  was  an  impression  abroad  that  he  was  a 
reincarnation  of  the  prophet  Elias.  "Art  thou  Elias? 
And  he  saith,  I  am  not.  Art  thou  a  prophet?  And 
he  answered,  No"  (John  1:21).  A  legend  of  this 
character  in  a  poetic  age  would  naturally  find  ample 
enlargement.  Legends  that  cluster  about  the  lives  of 
famous  people  are  not  ordinarily  the  creations  of 
fiction;  they  are  the  creations  of  true  poesy;  and  often 
suggest  and  point  the  way  of  the  profoundest  truths; 
but  when  viewed  in  this  light,  it  stands  to  reason  that 


John  the  Baptist  369 

they  should  not  be  considered  as  serious  and  literal 
statements  of  fact.  There  is  a  legendary  account  of 
John  in  the  first  chapter  of  Luke  that  certifies  to  his 
descent  from  virtuous  and  pious  people. 

The  object  of  this  essay  is  to  reveal  the  true  charac- 
ter and  office  of  John  the  Baptist.  It  is  evident,  we 
think,  that  John  did  what  he  could  to  restore  the  "com- 
mon faith"  of  Israel  (Titus  1:4);  and  to  prepare  a 
people  for  "the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day 
of  the  Lord"  (Mai.  4:5),  the  day  of  baptism  with 
fire.  What  is  here  said  of  John,  is,  we  believe,  a  proper 
and  necessary  prelude  to  the  life,  the  character,  and  the 
religious  office  of  Jesus  Christ. 
34 


CHAPTER  XI 

JESUS  OF  NAZARETH 
"It  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness"  (Matt.  3: 1.5). 

OF  the  early  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  little  is  known. 
His  disciples,  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  like 
their  Master,  were  not  specially  concerned  with  the 
passing,  the  local,  and  the  personal.  "The  prophet 
that  hath  my  word,  let  him  speak  my  word  faithfully. 
What  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the  Lord"  Qer. 
23:28).  Events  in  time  may  be  likened  to  chaff, 
principles  to  wheat.  Religion  is  essentially  scientific; 
it  deals  with  principles;  principles  have  no  anniversary; 
and  are,  therefore,  eternal.  "Know  this  first,,  that  no 
prophecy  of  Scripture  is  of  any  private  interpretation." 
Events  in  time  constitute  the  essentials  of  history; 
but  the  office  of  religion  is  not  to  record  passing  events. 
"Who  is  my  mother?  and  who  are  my  brethren?" 
By  these  words,  we  understand  Jesus  to  say  in  effect: 
Is  my  life  to  be  devoted  to  personal  considerations? 
Or  is  it  to  be  devoted  to  the  promulgation  of  those 
truths  which  are  eternal  in  their  nature,  and  applicable 
alike  to  every  human  soul?  Jesus,  like  Moses  and  all 
the  great,  taught  and  demonstrated  in  his  own  life 
certain  principles  which  he  desired  to  bring  to  the 
attention  of  all  rational  beings.  "Heaven  and  earth 
370 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  371, 

shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away." 
The  wise  do  not  believe  that  man  should  give  heed 
to  fables,  and  endless  genealogies,  which  give  rise  to 
questions,  whereby  cometh  envy,  railings,  and  evil 
surmisings  (i  Tim.  1:4;  6:4). 

The  genealogy  of  Jesus,  both  in  Matthew  (1:1-17) 
and  in  Luke  (3:23-38)  is  traced  through  the  line  of 
Joseph ;  he  was  saluted  as  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary 
(John  1 :  45 ;  6 :  42 ;  Matt.  13 :  55 ;  Luke  4 :  22) .  Religion 
is  founded  in  principle;  and  is,  therefore,  in  no  wise 
dependent  upon  any  fable,  supernatural  story,  or 
genealogy,  which  may  give  rise  to  speculation,  railings, 
and  evil  surmisings.  Nothing  vital,  nothing  essential 
to  the  cause  of  truth  and  of  religion  is  a  matter  of 
speculation.  Faith,  that  is  truly  faith,  is  not  founded 
upon  any  speculative  dogma ;  it  is  founded  in  knowledge; 
and  the  faith  of  knowledge  comes  to  every  human 
being  who  lives  a  virtuous  and  orderly  life.  "Blessed 
are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall  see  God."  "That 
which  may  be  known  of  God  is  made  manifest  to  the 
just"  (Rom.  i:  19).  The  man  whose  soul  is  upright 
before  God  is  not  solicitous  about  the  future.  "The 
just  shall  live  by  faith."  God  reveals  himself  to  His 
own;  He  awakes  in  the  hearts  of  the  just.  "If  thou 
wert  pure  and  upright ;  surely  now  He  would  awake  for 
thee"  (Job  8: 6). 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Mary,  the  mother  of 
Jesus,  was  descended  through  more  than  forty  genera- 
tions of  monotheists  and  haters  of  idolatry  (Matt. 
1 : 17);  and  that  her  character  represented  the  spiritual 
beauty  of  the  royal  race,  and  that  Joseph  was  a  devout 
and  just  man  (Matt.  1:19).  Mary,  like  all  of  her 
great  maternal  ancestors,  was  evidently  faithful  in 
the  depths  of  her  soul  to  Israel's  heaven-born  tradition, 


372  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

to  wit:  that  woman's  first  and  highest  duty  before  God 
and  man  is  so  to  live  as  to  be  the  mother  of  a  perfect 
child,  knowing  that  all  things  bring  forth  "after  their 
kind."  Mary,  like  every  faithful  daughter  of  Israel, 
no  doubt  prayed  most  earnestly  that  her  first-born 
should  be  a  male  child  without  blemish  in  mind,  and 
heart,  and  body;  and  that  he  might  become  a  mighty 
prophet  in  Israel.  All  great  mothers  belong  to  the 
race  of  the  regenerate;  they  have  all  come  out  of 
Egypt;  they  are  the  paragons  of  virtue;  they  are  not 
bondwomen  obsessed  by  the  sensuous  life;  they  are 
free  women;  they  are  the  descendants  of  the  divine 
Sarah ;  and  like  her  they  are  the  mothers  of  the  children 
of  promise.  If  we  would  have  children  without  blemish, 
we  must  first  have  men  and  women  who  are  devotees  of 
virtue,  and  are,  therefore,  fit  for  parentage. 

It  is  the  mother  who,  in  the  language  of  the  Scriptures, 
is  said  to  build  the  tabernacle  of  flesh  wherein  dwells 
the  soul  of  man.  "The  Lord  make  the  women  that 
come  into  thy  house  like  Rachel  and  like  Leah,  which 
two  did  build  the  house  of  Israel "  (Ruth  4 :  1 1).  Mary, 
like  Rachel  and  like  Leah,  was  faithful  to  her  heaven- 
descended  duty;  and  like  them  her  prayers  were  ans- 
wered; the  man  or  the  woman  who  lives  worthy  of  a 
divine  office,  is  not  denied  its  fulfillment.  Great  is 
the  glory  of  her  who  is  the  mother  of  a  perfect  child; 
and  great  is  the  degradation  of  her  who  is  the  mother 
of  a  blind,  a  deformed,  or  a  degenerate  child.  The 
heaven-born  traditions  and  ideals  of  ancient  Israel 
have  been  lost  for  many  centuries.  There  once  lived 
in  the  world  a  royal  race;  but  the  descendants  of  this 
holy  and  glorious  race  have  in  the  main  lapsed  into  the 
"Gentile  state."  There  seems  to  be  none  who  believe 
in  the  godlike  possibilities  of  man ;  all  seem  to  be  walk- 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  373 

ing  in  darkness  and  confusion.  Men  and  women  are 
alike  neglectful  of  the  high  and  holy  responsibilities  of 
life.  Where  there  is  no  virtue,  there  is  no  wisdom. 
"Where  there  is  no  vision  the  people  perish." 

It  is  written  that  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of 
Judea  in  the  days  of  Herod  the  King,  and  that  wise  men 
came  from  the  East,  saying  "Where  is  he  that  is  born 
King  of  the  Jews?"  It  is  related  that  these  wise  men 
did  obeisance  to  the  infant  Jesus,  and  presented  unto 
him  gifts:  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh.  Gold  is  a 
symbol  of  wisdom,  the  virtue  of  the  head ;  frankincense 
of  purity  of  heart,  the  seat  of  life  and  love;  and  myrrh 
is  a  symbol  of  chasteness  and  restraint,  it  stands  for 
the  virtue  of  temperance.  Jesus  was  born  King  of 
the  Jews.  He  was  a  true  representative  of  the  royal 
race;  he  was  wise  in  head,  pure  and  valorous  in  heart, 
and  his  loins  were  girded.  It  is  written  that  Joseph 
was  sold  into  slavery  by  his  brethren  to  a  company  of 
Ishmaelites  who  came  from  Gilead  with  their  camels, 
bearing  spicery,  and  balm,  and  myrrh  which  they  were 
carrying  down  to  Egypt  (Gen.  37:25).  These  aro- 
matic spices  are  descriptive  of  Joseph's  character. 
They  who  rule  Israel  love  righteousness  and  hate 
wickedness;  they  are  anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness 
above  their  fellows ;  and  their  garments  smell  of  myrrh, 
and  aloes,  and  cassia  (Ps.  45:  7,  8). 

Joseph  was  born  a  king;  he  was  a  ruler  "over  all 
the  land  of  Egypt."  All  do  obeisance  to  Joseph  (Gen. 
37:7;  41:43;  43:28).  Wisdom,  reason  in  Its  purity, 
is  the  first-born  of  Heaven ;  and  It  is  entitled  to  ride  in 
the  second  chariot  (Gen.  41 :  43).  The  sons  of  God  are 
the  fit  organs  of  It.  All  who  are  in  truth  Israelites 
are  ruled  of  Wisdom.  It  is  their  shepherd.  "They 
shall  have  one  shepherd"  .  .  .  "My  servant  David 


374  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

shall  be  their  prince  forever"  (Ezek.  37:24,  25). 
"Wisdom  in  all  ages  entering  into  holy  souls  hath 
made  them  friends  of  God,  and  prophets"  (Wisd. 
of  Sol.  7:27).  Wisdom  is  the  chief  shepherd  that 
forever  rules  the  just.  "The  children  of  Israel  shall 
return,  and  seek  the  Lord  their  God,  and  David  their 
King"  (Hosea  3:5).  They  are  Israelites  who  seek 
God,  and  live  worthy  of  wisdom.  "When  the  chief 
Shepherd  shall  appear,  ye  shall  receive  a  crown  of 
glory  that  fadeth  not  away"  (i  Peter  5: 4;  Ps.  80:  i). 

In  the  twelfth  chapter  of  first  Clement,  it  is  written 
that  the  bird  Phoenix,  the  symbol  of  the  resurrection, 
builds  itself  a  nest  of  frankincense  and  myrrh,  before  it 
dies  to  the  world.  This  ancient  allegory  is  intended  to 
teach  and  does  teach,  that  the  resurrection  of  the  soul 
of  man  out  of  a  state  of  death  into  the  spiritual  state 
of  consciousness  is  the  result  of  purity  of  heart  and 
chasteness  of  body.  The  soul  that  would  experience 
a  glorious  resurrection  must  resemble  in  the  depths 
of  its  nature  the  materials  of  which  the  Phoenix  builds 
its  nest. 

In  Matthew  (2:13-15),  it  is  written,  that  Joseph 
is  admonished  of  Heaven  to  take  the  young  child  and  his 
mother,  and  flee  into  Egypt;  for  Herod  the  King,  like 
Pharaoh  in  the  time  of  the  infant  Moses,  desired  to 
destroy  the  child  of  promise.  This  is  the  ever-present 
attitude  of  carnal,  animalized  mind  toward  the  spiritual. 
The  wicked  man  stands  in  mortal  dread  of  the  just. 
"For  Herod  feared  John,  knowing  that  he  was  a  just 
man."  "And  Ahab  said  unto  Elijah,  Hast  thou 
found  me,  0  mine  enemy?"  The  sword  is  an  ancient 
symbol  of  justice.  "Think  not  that  I  am  come  to 
send  peace  on  earth:  I  am  come  not  to  send  peace,  but 
a  sword."  "He  that  hath  no  sword,  let  him  sell  his 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  375 

garment,  and  buy  one."  Let  a  man  sacrifice  all, 
even  his  garment,  to  be  just.  Herod  the  King,  like 
all  the  wicked,  feared  the  coming  of  the  just.  In  the 
coming  of  the  just,  he  read  his  doom. 

It  is  also  written,  that  Joseph  took  the  young  child 
and  his  mother  down  into  Egypt,  to  the  end  that 
certain  words  of  prophecy  might  be  fulfilled,  wherein 
it  is  said:  "Out  of  Egypt  have  I  called  my  son" 
(Matt.  2:15).  According  to  the  symbolism  of  the 
Scriptures,  all  of  God's  sons  are  called  out  of  Egypt. 
Egypt  is  the  home  of  the  primitive  and  sensuous  man; 
it  is  the  home  of  those  who  live  in  the  "Gentile  state" 
of  consciousness;  persons  living  in  this  state  are  said 
to  be  dead  and  in  their  graves  awaiting  resurrection 
(Ezek.  37:13;  Ex.  12:33;  Jonn  5:28;  Hosea  13:14; 
Ps.  31:17).  Israel  is  the  last-born  in  time,  but  the 
first-born  in  power.  It  is  written  that  Moses  said  unto 
Pharaoh:  "Israel  is  my  son,  even  my  first-born; 
let  my  son  go,  that  he  may  serve  me ;  and  if  thou  refuse 
to  let  him  go,  behold,  I  will  slay  thy  son,  even  thy 
first-born"  (Ex.  4:22,  23).  The  Gentile  is  the  first- 
born of  man;  the  Israelite  is  the  first-born  of  God. 
First  a  Gentile,  and  then  an  Israelite;  the  first-born  of 
the  Egyptians  are  slain,  that  the  first-born  of  Israel 
may  live.  Every  one  who  would  attain  to  his  own 
must  die  to  the  Egyptian  state  of  consciousness,  and 
be  born  into  the  spiritual  life  of  Israel.  This  is  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead. 

Jesus,  like  all  the  great,  must  come  out  of  Egypt 
(Matt.  2: 15-18).  Every  mother  in  Israel  is  destined 
to  suffer  the  fate  of  Rachel,  who  cried,  and  would  not  be 
comforted,  because  her  children  were  carried  away  to 
Egypt;  but  God  has  promised  comfort  to  Rachel;  and 
to  every  mother  in  Israel.  "Refrain  thy  voice  from 


376  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

weeping,  and  thine  eyes  from  tears:  for  thy  work  shall 
be  rewarded,  saith  the  Lord;  and  they  shall  come  again 
from  the  land  of  the  enemy"  (Jer.  31 :  15,  16).  Every 
one  who  lives  a  clean  and  virtuous  life;  every  one  who 
is  an  Israelite  in  his  heart,  has  abandoned  "the  land  of 
the  enemy." 

When  Herod  the  King  was  dead,  Joseph  took  the 
young  child  and  his  mother,  and  came  into  the  land  of 
Israel;  and  they  dwelt  in  a  city  called  Nazareth: 
"That  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the 
prophets.  He  shall  be  called  a  Nazarene"  (Matt. 
2:23).  A  Nazarene  is  one  who  is  born  of  regenerate 
parents;  and  is,  therefore,  predisposed  to  virtue  from 
his  earliest  childhood.  He  is  the  child  of  promise,  as 
was  Isaac.  The  bones  of  the  living  are  clothed  upon 
with  flesh ;  the  bones  are  interior  to  the  flesh ;  and  those 
who  are  dead  to  spiritual  truths  are  likened  to  dry 
bones;  but  it  is  written  that  those  who  resemble  dry 
bones,  who  are  inwardly  dead,  are  to  be  awakened  out 
of  their  state  of  death  (Ezek.  37:1-5).  While  the 
bones  are  a  symbol  of  that  which  is  most  inward,  the 
hair  represents  that  which  is  most  outward;  the  hair 
of  the  Nazarene  is  not  to  be  despoiled,  "no  razor  shall 
come  on  his  head ;  for  the  child  shall  be  a  Nazarite  unto 
God  from  his  mother's  womb"  (Judges  13:5;  I  Sam. 
i:  n;  Num.  6:  5). 

The  Nazarene  is  the  type  of  the  regenerate  child; 
and  in  his  early  childhood  he  is  said  to  represent 
spiritual  power  in  its  ultimation.  In  the  evolution  of 
the  human  soul,  the  external  yields  to  the  internal. 
In  the  allegory  of  Samson  it  is  written  "There  hath 
not  come  a  razor  upon  my  head;  for  I  have  been  a 
Nazarite  unto  God  from  my  mother's  womb"  (Judges 
16:17)  It  is  said  that  the  marvelous  power  of  Samson 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  377 

was  in  "the  seven  locks  of  his  head"  (Judges  16: 19). 
The  Nazarite  is  the  antithesis  of  him  who  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  dry  bones.  The  faith  of  the  Nazarite  is 
no  doubt  stated  in  the  chaste  and  simple  words  of 
Milton: 

I  know  no  spells,  use  no  forbidden  arts; 

My  trust  is  in  the  living  God,  who  gave  me, 

At  my  nativity,  this  strength,  diffused 

No  less  through  all  my  sinews,  joints,  and  bones, 

Than  thine,  while  I  preserved  these  locks  unshorn, 

The  pledge  of  my  un violated  vow. 

MILTON:  Samson  Agonistes. 

The  story  of  the  Nazarite  child  is  intended  to  teach 
and  does  teach  the  high  responsibilities  that  heaven 
imposes  on  parents ;  it  teaches  the  marvelous  possibilities 
of  human  holiness;  it  teaches  that  they  alone  are  fit  to 
be  parents  who  are  sound  in  mind,  and  heart,  and 
body;  it  teaches  that  men  and  women  should  so  live 
as  to  ultimate  the  power  and  glory  of  the  spiritual  life ; 
it  teaches  that  the  fit  are  the  regenerate,  the  chaste, 
the  just.  "That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  made 
manifest  in  the  lives  of  the  just"  (Rom.  1 :  19). 

It  is  written  that  when  the  young  child  was  eight 
days  old,  he  was  circumcised,  and  "his  name  called 
Jesus."  It  will  be  recalled  that  Abram  and  Sara  had 
their  names  changed  to  Abraham  and  Sarah  before  the 
birth  of  Isaac;  and  that  Abraham  himself  was  cir- 
cumcised after  the  change  of  his  name  (Gen.  17:26). 
Isaac  was  born  of  regenerate  parents,  and  was  circum- 
cised when  eight  days  old.  The  children  of  the  regen- 
erate shall  be  circumcised  when  eight  days  old.  "  Among 
you,  he  that  is  eight  days  old  shall  be  circumcised" 


378  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

(Gen.  17:  10,  12).  The  number  eight  as  here  used  is 
indicative  of  the  perfection  of  the  parents,  and  pre- 
figures the  perfection  of  the  child.  The  act  of  circum- 
cision certifies  certain  ideas,  to  wit:  that  the  parents 
of  the  child  circumcised  are  not  Egyptians;  that  the 
child  is  born  of  regenerate  parents;  that  virtue  begets 
virtue;  that  character  is  communicable;  that  a  virtuous 
and  holy  ancestry  is  conducive  to  a  like  posterity;  and 
that  the  regenerate  are  "an  holy  nation."  The  idea 
that  men  and  women  can  attain  to  such  a  high  degree 
of  perfection  and  moral  excellence,  that  the  children 
born  to  them  will  be  without  blemish  in  mind,  and 
heart,  and  body,  is  at  the  heart  of  the  Mosaic  Law. 
If  men  and  women  would  live  faithful  to  the  Law  of 
Human  Life,  then  every  child  born  into  the  world 
would  be  a  "Nazarite  unto  God  from  its  mother's 
womb." 

In  Luke  (2:41)  it  is  recorded,  that  Jesus  when 
twelve  years  old  went  with  his  parents  to  the  feast  of 
the  passover,  and  when  the  festivities  were  at  an  end 
Joseph  and  Mary  started  on  their  return,  and  went  a 
day's  journey;  and  the  child  Jesus  tarried  behind  in 
Jerusalem;  and  Joseph  and  his  mother  knew  it  not; 
and  that  they  returned  to  Jerusalem;  and  "after  three 
days  they  found  him  in  the  temple,  sitting  in  the 
midst  of  the  doctors,  both  hearing  them,  and  asking 
them  questions";  and  it  is  written  that  when  his 
mother  said  unto  him,  "Son,  why  hast  thou  thus  dealt 
with  us?  behold,  thy  father  and  I  have  sought  thee 
sorrowing"  (Luke  2:48);  he  replied:  "Wist  ye  not 
that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business?" 

It  is  said  that  he  went  to  Nazareth  with  Joseph  and 
Mary,  "and  was  subject  unto  them;  and  that  he  in- 
creased in  wisdom  and  stature,  and  in  favor  with  God 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  379 

and  man."  It  is  remarkable  that  a  boy  twelve  years 
old  should  have  abandoned  the  company  of  his  parents, 
and  "their  kinfolk  and  acquaintance"  and  have  tarried 
behind  in  Jerusalem  in  order  to  converse  with  the 
doctors  of  the  Law  in  the  Jewish  temple.  It  would 
seem  that  Jesus  was  a  religious  enthusiast ;  and  that  his 
mind  and  heart  were  set  upon  the  acquirement  of 
religious  knowledge;  and  that  he  was  so  intent  upon  a 
contemplated  religious  career  that  he  was  oblivious 
to  personal  considerations.  He  who  is  in  love  with  the 
things  of  the  world  is  preoccupied;  the  great  mass  of 
mankind  everywhere  are  hurried,  and  worried,  and 
obsessed  by  passing  shows;  their  affections  are  set  upon 
things  below.  He  alone  is  great  whose  mind  and 
affections  are  intently  directed  toward  high,  abiding, 
and  holy  objects  of  thought. 

Jesus  was  a  "Nazarite  unto  God  from  his  mother's 
womb."  He  did  not  quench  the  Spirit;  no  razor  came 
upon  his  head;  he  evidently  did  what  he  could  from 
an  early  age  to  ultimate  the  power  and  spirit  of  God 
that  abides  in  every  regenerate  soul.  He  early  learned 
that  the  secrets  of  heaven  are  made  manifest  to  the 
just  (Rom.  i:  19)  and  that  by  virtue,  and  by  virtue 
alone  can  man  attain  to  knowledge  of  spiritual  things. 
"The  observation  of  nature,"  says  Goethe,  " requires 
a  certain  purity  of  mind,  which  can  not  be  disturbed 
or  preoccupied  by  anything."  He  alone  is  great  who 
has  escaped  the  obsession  of  things,  and  lives  in  the 
realm  of  pure  thought ;  he  alone  beholds  the  works  of 
nature  in  their  true  relation  who  is  not  disturbed  or 
preoccupied  by  the  passing  shows  of  the  mutatious  ani- 
mal world.  "Men  and  women,"  as  Emerson  has  truly 
said,  "are  only  half  human."  Mankind  is  slowly 
emerging  from  a  state  of  animalism;  they  live  lives 


380  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

only  half  human;  and  countless  numbers  live  lives  of 
wickedness  and  prostitution  wholly  unknown  to  ani- 
mals domestic  or  wild.  This  great  wickedness  and  sin 
against  God,  this  fall  of  man,  is  a  prostitution  of  reason, 
the  first-born  of  heaven. 

As  long  as  men  and  women  abide  in  the  Egyptian 
state  of  consciousness,  as  long  as  they  sojourn  in  the 
land  of  Ham  (Ps.  105:  23),  as  long  as  they  are  in  the 
"Gentile  state,"  as  long  as  they  cultivate  and  nurture 
the  animal  traits:  envy,  hypocrisy,  falsehood,  hate, 
greed,  malice,  revenge,  lust,  and  murder,  they  are 
dead  and  oblivious  to  the  kingdom  of  pure  thought; 
they  are  oblivious  to  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  "My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world:  if  my  kingdom  were  of 
this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight."  "We  know 
ourselves  to  be  truly  human  only  by  discovering  and 
exercising  super-animal  traits."  These  words  are  ac- 
credited to  the  late  Henry  George,  whose  humane  and 
simple  life  was  a  benediction  to  many  of  his  fellows. 
"The  God  that  dwells  within  man  endows  him  with 
Wisdom;  the  animal  endows  him  with  force,"  says 
Franz  Hartmann.  The  world  in  which  we  live  is  an 
animal  world;  and  every  human  birth  into  this  world 
is,  therefore,  an  animal  birth.  They  that  are  true 
followers  of  Christ  "have  crucified  the  flesh."  All 
flesh  is  doomed;  it  is  essentially  animal  in  its  nature. 

"For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood:  and  I  have 
given  it  to  you  wherewith  to  make  an  atonement  for 
your  souls  upon  the  altar:  for  it  is  the  blood  that 
makes  an  atonement  for  the  soul"  (Lev.  17:  n). 
The  animal  nature  of  man  is  antagonistic  to  God,  and 
must  be  conquered  and  crucified,  if  man  would  attain 
to  a  conscious  knowledge  of  his  Creator;  this  is  the 
way  of  salvation.  In  a  sense,  we  are  born  amidst  the 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  381 

animals,  and  cradled  in  a  manger.  The  shepherds 
are  the  heralds  of  the  child  of  promise;  for  they  are 
the  keepers  of  the  sheep. 

The  order  of  nature  is:  first  the  animal,  and  then 
the  human,  or  first  the  natural,  and  then  the  spiritual; 
first  Cain,  the  animal  man,  and  then  Abel;  first  Esau, 
the  hairy  man,  and  then  Jacob;  first  the  Gentile,  the 
first-born  in  time,  and  then  the  Israelite,  the  first-born 
of  God.  The  soul's  evolution  has  its  invariable  law. 
The  flesh  and  the  Spirit,  says  Paul,  "these  are  contrary 
the  one  to  the  other."  Paul  tells  the  Galatians  what 
"the  works  of  the  flesh  are, "  and  what  " the  fruit  of  the 
Spirit  is,"  and  that  they  "that  are  Christ's  have 
crucified  the  flesh"  (Gal.  5:  17,  19,  22,  24).  Man, 
would  he  be  a  man,  must  conquer  and  destroy  the 
vestiges  of  animalism  that  inhere  in  his  soul.  "Those 
mine  enemies,  which  would  not  that  I  should  reign 
over  them,  bring  hither,  and  slay  them  before  me" 
(Luke  19:27). 

The  end  and  aim  of  religion  is  to  humanize.  No 
man  is  born  out  of  the  "Gentile  state, "  the  animalized 
state,  into  the  human  state  of  Israel,  except  he  pass 
by  the  way  of  the  wilderness.  God  led  Israel  "not 
through  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  although  that  was 
near,  but  through  the  way  of  the  wilderness  of  the 
Red  Sea"  (Ex.  13: 17,  1 8).  All  are  destined  to  be  led 
by  a  way  "which  the  vulture's  eye  hath  not  seen." 
The  wilderness  is  a  symbol  descriptive  of  a  life  of 
affliction,  of  grief,  and  of  provocation.  Man  is  made 
perfect  by  suffering.  All  the  unregenerate  are  doomed 
to  crucifixion.  The  lower  principles  of  the  human 
soul,  the  seat  of  the  carnal  appetites,  which  correspond 
to  the  body  of  flesh,  must  be  made  the  willing  and  obe- 
dient servant  of  right  reason  and  a  virtuous  heart. 


382  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Reason  is  the  governing  principle  of  the  human  soul, 
and  the  affections  of  a  righteous  heart  are  the  faithful 
handmaids  of  reason. 

Plato  in  his  Republic,  when  speaking  of  the  three 
principles  of  the  human  soul,  compares  them  to  the 
higher,  the  lower,  and  the  middle  notes  of  the  scale  of 
music;  and  says  that  these  principles  must  be  attuned 
one  to  the  other;  that  they  must  be  bound  together,  if 
the  soul  would  be  entirely  harmonious.  But  a  thousand 
years  before  the  coming  of  Plato,  Moses,  the  servant  of 
God,  explained  the  nature  of  the  human  soul  and  the 
mode  and  manner  of  its  orderly  evolution  in  a  marvelous 
and  incomparable  variety  of  symbols.  It  now  remains 
to  be  seen  whether  Jesus  of  Nazareth  lived  and  taught 
the  Law  of  Human  Life  proclaimed  by  Moses  and 
restored  by  the  prophet  Elias;  and  in  some  measure 
lived  and  taught  by  Pythagoras,  Socrates,  Plato,  and 
by  all  who  "fear  God,  and  worketh  righteousness" 
(Acts  10:35;  Rom.  2:  13). 

There  is  nothing  in  the  Scriptures  of  a  historical 
nature  to  inform  us  as  to  the  mode  and  manner  of  the 
life  of  Jesus  from  his  twelfth  to  his  thirtieth  year. 
But  it  is  written  that  when  twelve  years  old  he  aban- 
doned the  company  of  his  parents,  and  "their  kinfolk 
and  acquaintance,"  and  tarried  behind  in  Jerusalem 
in  order  to  converse  with  the  doctors  of  the  Law  in  the 
Jewish  temple.  This  temple  was  the  rendezvous  of 
the  most  devout  and  learned  of  Israel.  All  the  people 
of  Israel,  except  those  living  in  remote  lands,  were 
expected  to  come  to  this  temple,  and  participate  in  the 
annual  feast  of  the  passover,  and  the  other  feasts 
commemorative  of  the  moral  triumphs  of  Israel. 
This  temple  was  the  central  and  dominant  religious 
institution  in  all  Israel.  It  was  given  this  prominence 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  383 

for  the  purpose  of  uniting  all  Israel  in  One  indissoluble 
brotherhood,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  together  in  one 
place  the  most  learned  and  pious,  to  the  end  that  the 
Law  proclaimed  by  Moses  might  be  faithfully  inter- 
preted. In  a  word,  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  was  the 
rendezvous  of  the  doctors  of  the  Law,  the  most  pious, 
the  most  learned,  and  the  most  distinguished  in  all 
Israel. 

It  stands  to  reason  that  Jesus  was  a  boy  of  marvelous 
intelligence,  a  religious  enthusiast  at  the  age  of  twelve; 
and  that  he  ardently  desired  to  know  what  the  doctors 
in  the  temple  taught;  for  it  is  said  that  he  was  found 
"sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  doctors,  both  hearing 
them,  and  asking  them  questions."  When  we  con- 
sider this  incident,  and  the  answer  he  made  to  his 
mother,  when  she  reproved  him  because  of  the  sorrow 
he  had  brought  on  his  father  and  herself;  and  when 
we  also  consider  the  bold,  the  active,  the  strenuous 
character  of  his  ministry,  we  are  not  left  in  doubt  as 
to  the  mode  and  manner  of  his  life  during  that  period 
of  which  we  have  no  written  account. 

Jesus  was  evidently  devoted  to  virtue  from  his 
youth;  he  was  a  "Nazarite  unto  God  from  his  mother's 
womb."  Jesus  desired  above  all  to  live  in  perfect 
obedience  to  the  Law  of  Human  Life;  and  to  illustrate 
in  his  own  life  this  Heaven-born  Law ;  and  thus  to  prove 
to  all  men  the  marvelous  possibilities  of  man.  The 
glory  of  Jesus'  life  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  lived  worthy 
of  the  Law.  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  behold 
wondrous  things  out  of  Thy  Law"  (Ps.  119:  18). 
This  is  the  prayer  of  all  the  great.  In  the  life  of 
Jesus  we  behold  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law.  Jesus  lived 
and  taught  the  Law  of  Human  Life.  "I  am  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life:  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father, 


384  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

but  by  Me."  No  man  attains  to  a  true  knowledge 
of  God  except  he  fulfill  the  law  which  was  demonstrated 
in  the  life  of  Jesus. 

It  is  written  that  Jesus  came  from  Galilee  unto  John, 
to  be  baptized  of  him.  "But  John  forbade  him,  saying, 
I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  thee."  "And  Jesus 
answering  said  unto  him,  Suffer  it  to  be  so  now:  for 
thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness"  (Matt. 
3:  13-15).  Jesus  was  circumcised  when  eight  days  old. 
Circumcision  of  the  flesh,  and  baptism  with  water,  are 
symbols  expressive  of  the  same  truth,  namely:  the 
"putting  off"  of  the  carnal  life,  "the  putting  off  from 
the  body  the  sins  of  the  flesh"  (Col.  2:11).  "We 
are  circumcised  by  baptism,"  said  Justin  Martyr.  If 
it  be  true  that  both  circumcision  and  baptism  certify  to 
the  same  truth,  to  wit:  regeneration,  the  re-birth,  the 
resurrection,  then  why  should  Jesus  ask  to  be  baptized 
of  John?  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  a  great  prophet;  he 
came  to  live  and  teach  the  Law  of  Human  Life;  and 
there  were  some  among  the  Jews  who  were  prepared  in 
a  measure  to  receive  the  truth.  The  message  of  Jesus 
was  addressed  first  to  the  Jews,  and  then  to  the  Gentiles; 
first  to  them  that  are  near,  and  then,  "to  all  that 
are  afar  off"  (Acts.  2:39).  The  Jews  were  the  only 
people  who  were  prepared  to  receive  the  message  of 
a  prophet.  All  of  Jesus'  disciples  were  Jews.  The 
most  spiritually  developed  of  Jesus'  disciples  were 
Peter,  John,  and  James  the  brother  of  John,  and  they, 
because  of  their  development,  were  most  in  the  com- 
pany and  confidence  of  Jesus.  "He  suffered  no  man  to 
go  in,  save  Peter,  and  James,  and  John,  and  the  father 
and  the  mother  of  the  maid"  (Luke  8:  51). 

Baptism  with  water  is  the  symbol  whereby  a  Gentile 
is  changed  into  a  Jew,  an  Israelite.  Circumcision 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  385 

related  Jesus  to  the  Jews;  and  baptism  with  water  to  the 
Gentiles.  Jesus  lived  and  demonstrated  in  his  life 
what  he  taught;  he  did  not  assume  to  ask  any  man, 
Jew  or  Gentile,  to  do  anything  other  than  what  he  had 
first  done  himself;  his  life  was  identical  with  what  he 
taught.  It  becometh  us  first  to  do  what  we  would  ask 
others  to  do;  "thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfill  all  righteous- 
ness." It  stands  to  reason  that  he  is  the  greatest 
teacher  of  the  Law  of  Righteousness  who  reveals  the 
greatest  virtue  and  perfection  in  his  own  life,  and  who 
lives  a  life  identical  with  what  he  teaches. 

It  is  said  that  his  presence  conferred  a  benediction. 
"And  the  whole  multitude  sought  to  touch  him:  for 
there  went  virtue  out  of  him,  and  healed  them  all." 
The  idea  of  a  life  lived  in  obedience  to  a  heaven-given 
Law,  and  far  transcending  in  virtue,  and  power,  and 
glory  the  life  of  which  the  world  has  any  real  knowledge, 
is  intended  to  be  and  is  illustrated  in  the  lives  of  the 
patriarchs,  and  the  prophets. 

The  Greek  philosophers  had  a  knowledge  of  the  Law 
of  Human  Life;  and  it  seems  that  Pythagoras,  the  sage 
of  Samos,  and  Socrates  and  Plato  of  Athens,  and 
perhaps  many  others,  lived  clean  and  orderly  lives, 
and  attained  to  very  great  power  and  wisdom.  They 
taught,  as  did  the  Hebrew  prophets,  that  knowledge 
is  born  of  virtue;  that  he  alone  attains  to  wisdom  and 
power  whose  soul  is  conformed  to  the  divine  order. 
In  Plato's  dialogue  The  Republic,  is  the  following 
passage: 

Was  Homer  privately  a  guide  or  teacher  of  any?  Had 
he  in  his  life-time  friends  and  associates  who  loved  him, 
and  handed  down  to  posterity  an  Homeric  way  of  life,  as 
Pythagoras  was  beloved  and  his  successors,  who  at  this 
day  call  their  way  of  life  by  his  name  (Pythagorians) ,  and 

33 


386  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

who  do  appear  to  have  a  certain  distinction  above  other 
men?  Nothing  of  the  kind  is  recorded  of  Homer.  .  .  . 
And  are  we  to  believe  that  the  contemporaries  of  Homer, 
or  again  of  Hesiod,  would  have  allowed  either  of  them  to 
beg  their  way  as  rhapsodists,  if  they  had  really  been  able  to 
improve  mankind  ?  Would  they  not  have  been  as  unwilling 
to  part  with  them  as  with  gold,  and  have  compelled  them 
to  stay  at  home  with  them?  Or,  if  the  Master  would  not 
stay,  then  the  disciples  would  have  followed  him  about 
everywhere  until  they  got  enough  education? 

Jesus,  like  all  the  great,  taught  and  revealed  in  his 
own  life  the  glorious  and  godlike  possibilities  of  man. 
His  way  of  life  was  in  accord  with  the  Law  given  to 
the  people  of  Israel  through  Moses.  "Did  not  Moses 
give  you  the  Law?  and  yet  none  of  you  keepeth  the 
Law"  (John  7:  19).  Jesus  taught  that  they  who  live 
the  Law,  who  "keepeth  the  Law,"  which  was  de- 
monstrated in  his  life,  could  know  what  he  knew, 
and  could  do  what  he  did.  He  emphasized  this  truth. 
"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth  on 
me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also;  and  greater 
works  shall  he  do"  (John  14:  12).  If  we  assign  to 
Jesus  a  nature  other  than  human,  then  religion  becomes 
a  matter  of  speculation,  and  the  Scriptures  a  book  of 
riddles ;  but  if  we  take  the  view  that  his  soul  was  builded 
"after  the  pattern  which  was  shown  Moses  in  the 
mount";  in  a  word,  that  his  soul  was  in  its  essential 
principles  like  every  other  human  soul,  then  it  is  sub- 
mitted that  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  teach  principles, 
which  are  scientific,  that  they  point  the  way  of  human 
life,  that  they  are  teachable,  and  that  religion  is, 
therefore,  not  a  matter  of  speculation. 

Jesus'  life  was  a  demonstration  of  the  Law.  "I 
am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  Nothing  is  a 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  387 

matter  of  speculation,  that  can  be  demonstrated.  The 
Scriptures  teach  that  there  is  a  Law  of  Human  Life; 
and  that  obedience  to  this  Law  will  lead  the  faithful 
into  a  conscious  relation  with  the  source  of  Being.  "That 
which  may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest  to  the  just: 
for  God  hath  showed  it  unto  them"  (Rom.  1:19). 
The  condition  of  knowing  God  is  a  life  attuned  to 
justice.  Let  us  contemplate  what  Justice  is  in  the 
light  of  Greek  philosophy.  The  virtue  of  reason, 
Plato  calls  Wisdom,  its  seat  is  in  the  head,  it  is  the 
measuring  and  the  directing  virtue,  since  it  must 
govern  the  soul;  the  virtue  of  the  heart  is  Valor,  valor 
is  the  handmaid  of  wisdom,  the  pure  in  heart  are 
dauntless;  the  virtue  by  which  the  sensuous  desires  in 
the  lower  principle  of  the  soul  are  restrained  and  girded 
is  Temperance;  and  lastly,  the  virtue  that  represents 
the  poise,  the  balance,  the  equity,  and  the  divine 
harmony  of  the  soul  is  Justice.  "If  a  man  is  at  heart 
just,  then,  in  so  far,  is  he  God.  The  safety  of  God,  the 
majesty  of  God,  do  enter  into  that  mind  with  Justice." 
These  are  the  inspired  words  of  Emerson.  The  heart 
is  the  life  center.  He  who  is  just  in  his  heart  makes 
manifest  the  Spirit  of  God.  "He  that  hath  seen  me 
hath  seen  the  Father"  (John  14:  9).  The  sword  is  an 
ancient  symbol  of  Justice;  it  is  written  that  there  is  a 
flaming  sword  at  the  entrance  to  paradise;  and  that  it 
points  the  way  to  the  tree  of  Life  (Gen.  3:  24).  Jesus 
admonished  his  followers  to  sacrifice  all  in  order  to  be 
just,  "He  that  hath  no  sword,  let  him  sell  his  garment, 
and  buy  one." 

Jesus,  like  all  the  great,  had  his  wilderness  experience. 
It  is  written  that  after  he  was  baptized  of  John,  he 
was  led  into  the  wilderness  by  the  Spirit  to  be  tempted 
of  the  devil  (Matt.  4:  i).  He  is  said  to  have  "fasted 


388  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

forty  days  and  forty  nights."  This  does  not  mean  a 
fixed  time ;  it  means  a  period  of  discipline  and  chastening. 
Man  is  made  perfect  by  suffering ;  and  this  period  may 
be  long  or  short,  according  to  the  severity  of  the 
discipline,  and  the  character  of  the  penitent.  The 
phrase,  "Forty  days  and  forty  nights"  is  a  figure  of 
speech  which  is  intended  to  represent  that  period  of 
discipline  and  chastening  which  is  necessary  to  ren- 
der the  soul  of  man  just  and  harmonious  in  all  of  its 
principles. 

Jesus  is  represented  by  his  biographers,  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  as  teaching  the  same  doctrine 
concerning  the  nature  of  the  human  soul  which  was 
first  taught  by  Moses,  and  afterwards  by  the  prophets, 
and  also  by  the  Greek  philosophers.  It  is  evident  that 
all  temptations  may  be  summarized  under  one  or 
another  of  three  heads :  temptations  that  appeal  to  the 
carnal  appetites;  temptations  that  tend  to  corruption 
of  the  heart,  the  affections;  and  lastly,  temptations 
that  tend  to  debauch  and  destroy  the  freedom  of  the 
mind.  Let  us  now  contemplate  the  nature  of  Jesus' 
threefold  temptation  in  the  wilderness: 

(i)  "And  the  devil  said  unto  him,  If  thou  be  the 
Son  of  God,  command  this  stone  that  it  be  made 
bread.  And  Jesus  answered  him,  saying,  It  is  written, 
That  man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every 
word  of  God"  (Luke  4:3,  4).  This  allegory  represents 
Jesus  as  being  tempted  to  act  in  obedience  to  the  lower 
principle  of  his  soul.  This  is  the  temptation  that 
marked  the  fall  of  Adam;  and  of  every  Adam  that 
has  fallen  from  the  spiritual  plane  of  consciousness  to 
the  carnal  plane.  Satan  tempts  Jesus  to  sacrifice  all 
for  the  gratification  of  his  carnal  appetites.  He  who 
abandons  reason,  and  takes  counsel  of  his  carnal  ap- 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  389 

petites  sacrifices  Paradise,  and  is  a  fallen  Adam.  If 
man  would  be  great,  and  upright,  and  holy,  and  just, 
he  must  be  faithful  to  truth,  to  "every  word  of  God"; 
he  must  take  counsel  of  reason  that  abideth  at  the  sum- 
mit of  the  temple,  and  not  of  Satan  the  destroyer,  the 
prince  of  the  world. 

(2)  And  the  devil  showed  Jesus  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world,  and  said  unto  him,  "All  this  power  will  I  give 
unto  thee,  and  the  glory  of  them;  for  that  is  delivered 
unto  me;  and  to  whomsoever  I  will  I  give  it.  If  thou, 
therefore,  wilt  worship  me,  all  shall  be  thine.  And 
Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Get  thee  behind  me, 
Satan:  for  it  is  written,  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord 
thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve"  (Luke  4:  5-8). 
This  was  an  appeal  to  the  affections.  Set  your  heart 
upon  the  things  of  the  world,  says  Satan;  and  you  shall 
participate  in  its  power  and  glory. 

In  the  allegory  of  Adam,  and  Eve,  and  the  Serpent, 
Eve  represents  the  heart,  and  the  affections  of  the  heart. 
When  the  affections  are  enamored  of  the  power  and 
glory  of  the  world,  then  is  Adam  in  peril,  then  is  Adam 
tempted  to  sacrifice  Paradise,  and  fall  with  Eve  into  a 
state  of  carnality  and  death.  Paradise  is  a  figure  of 
speech  that  represents  a  high  and  holy  state  of  con- 
sciousness, that  relates  Man,  Manas,  to  God.  The 
lower  principle  of  the  human  soul  in  the  unregenerate 
man,  is  forever  seeking  to  debauch  the  affections,  and 
dethrone  Adam;  man  worships  Satan,  when  his  mind 
and  heart  are  set  on  things  below.  The  power  and 
glory  of  the  world  "is  delivered  unto  me,"  says  Satan; 
the  world  in  which  we  live  is  animal,  and  sensuous, 
Man  would  he  attain  to  his  true  inheritance,  must 
abandon  the  spirit  of  the  world;  and  must  set  his  mind 
and  heart  upon  things  above.  "My  kingdom  is  not 


390.  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  this  world:  if  my  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then 
would  my  servants  fight."  It  is  the  duty  of  man  to  rise 
above  the  carnal  spirit  of  the  world,  and  put  it  behind 
him,  and  worship  the  Living  God  in  Spirit  and  in  truth. 
It  is  the  duty  of  man  to  set  his  affections  upon  things 
above  and  not  upon  things  below.  "  Set  your  affections 
on  things  above,  not  on  things  on  the  earth"  (Col. 
3:2).  "Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan:  for  it  is  written, 
Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  only  him 
shall  thou  serve" 

(3)  In  this  allegory,  Jesus  is  represented  as  being 
at  the  top,  or  crown  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  This 
is  significant,  when  we  contemplate  that  this  edifice, 
like  the  tabernacle,  was  so  constructed  as  to  represent 
the  soul  and  body  of  man.  Reason  is  godlike;  it  is 
spiritual;  and  it  should  forever  maintain  itself  at  the 
summit  of  the  temple.  When  Jesus  is  sitting  at  the 
summit  of  the  temple,  he  is  thus  addressed  by  Satan: 
"If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  cast  thyself  down  from 
hence:  For  it  is  written,  He  shall  give  his  angels 
charge  over  thee,  to  keep  thee.  And  Jesus  answering 
said  unto  him,  It  is  said,  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the 
Lord  thy  God"  (Luke  4:  9-12).  The  Scriptures  speak 
of  God  as  mentality.  "He  is  One  Mind"  (Job  23: 
13).  Abraham  is  commanded  to  divide  the  animals; 
for  they  are  symbols  representing  the  principles  of 
the  human  soul  itself;  "but  the  birds  divided  he  not" 
(Gen.  15:  10).  The  birds  represent  the  spiritual;  the 
mentality  of  the  universe  is  One  and  indivisible.  In 
Plato's  Philebus,  Socrates  is  reported  as  saying:  "Do 
not  then  suppose  that  these  words  are  spoken  rashly 
by  us,  O  Plotarchus,  for  they  are  in  harmony  with  the 
testimony  of  those  who  said  of  old  time  that  mind 
rules  the  universe."  Man  is  the  son  of  God  because 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  391 

he  is  endowed  with  mentality;  because  he  partakes  of 
the  nature  of  his  Creator.  The  just  are  "partakers  of 
the  divine  nature,  having  escaped  the  corruption  that 
is  in  the  world  through  lust"  (2  Peter  1:4). 

When  the  lower  principle  of  the  soul,  the  seat  of 
the  carnal  desires,  called  Satan,  counsels  reason  at  the 
summit  of  the  temple  to  cast  himself  down,  then  is 
the  Lord  tempted.  Pure  mentality,  we  believe  to  be  the 
first-born  of  God,  the  Son  of  God,  the  only-begotten 
of  God.  They  who  live  in  obedience  to  the  Law  of 
Human  Life  are  the  sons  of  God.  The  sons  of  God 
are  the  sons  of  Mind ;  they  are  those  who  live  and  abide 
in  a  state  of  consciousness  that  transcends  the  subtle, 
the  sensual,  the  carnal  consciousness,  symbolized  by  the 
serpent.  "Because  ye  are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth 
the  Spirit  of  His  Son  into  your  hearts,  whereby  ye 
cry  Abba,  Father"  (Gal.  4:6;  Col.  i:  12,  13;  i  John 
3:  I,  2).  Reason  is  lordly;  it  is  spiritual;  and  obedience 
to  it  relates  man  to  God.  The  Virtue  of  Reason  is 
Wisdom.  All  conscious  evil  is  an  offense  against  rea- 
son; it  is  an  offending  against  the  Lord.  We  should 
not  do  violence  to  reason  by  doing  that  which  we 
know  to  be  wrong,  nor  should  we  tempt  others  to 
do  wrong.  Heaven  forbids  the  violation  of  reason. 
"Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God." 

This  allegory,  with  its  three-fold  temptation,  re- 
sembles the  story  of  Adam,  and  Eve,  and  the  Serpent ; 
but  Jesus,  the  second  Adam,  does  not  fall.  He  is  not 
the  victim  of  the  wiles  of  Satan.  He  triumphs  over 
Satan ;  he  is  his  Master.  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan." 
None,  it  would  seem,  while  living  in  this  world,  are 
absolutely  immune  from  temptation.  "And  when  the 
devil  had  ended  all  the  temptations,  he  departed  from 
him  for  a  season"  (Luke  4:  13).  Jesus  is  here  repre- 


392  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

sented  as  having  attained  to  an  exalted  state  of  con- 
sciousness, that  makes  man  the  master  of  all  worldly 
temptations.  Man  must  maintain  himself  at  the  sum- 
mit of  the  temple,  if  he  would  be  free  and  at  peace; 
he  must  sit  enthroned  at  the  summit  if  he  would 
command  Satan.  "These  things  I  have  spoken  unto 
you,  that  in  me  ye  might  have  peace.  In  the  world 
ye  shall  have  tribulation:  but  be  of  good  cheer;  I  have 
overcome  the  world"  (John  16:  33).  He  has  overcome 
the  world  who  is  capable  of  resisting  its  every  tempta- 
tion. The  son  of  man,  the  mentality  of  man,  must  be 
lifted  up,  "as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilder- 
ness," if  man  would  truly  be  a  man.  When  man  is 
lifted  up  above  the  temptations  of  the  sensuous  world, 
when  he  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  when  he  is  related  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  then  he  realizes  the  Oneness  of  God, 
and  that  he  is  an  organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  all 
is  of  God.  "When  ye  have  lifted  up  the  son  of  man 
[when  ye  have  lifted  up  your  own  minds  above  the 
things  of  the  sensuous  world],  then  shall  ye  know  that 
I  am  he,  and  that  I  do  nothing  of  myself"  (John  8 :  28). 
Jesus  is  faithful  to  the  Law.  Every  time  he  is 
tempted,  he  replies  with  a  command  promulgated  of 
Moses.  "  Command  this  stone  that  it  be  made  bread." 
To  this  Jesus  answers:  "It  is  written,  That  man  shall 
not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  of  God" 
(Deut.  8:3).  When  he  is  importuned  to  set  his  heart 
upon  the  things  of  the  world,  he  replies :  "  It  is  written, 
Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  Him  only 
shalt  thou  serve"  (Deut.  6: 13).  When  he  is  tempted 
to  debauch  his  mind,  to  cast  himself  down  from  the 
summit  of  the  temple,  his  answer  is:  "  It  is  said,  Thou 
shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God"  (Deut.  6:  16). 
Jesus  was  subjected  to  great  trials  and  temptations; 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  393 

and  he  proved  himself  a  master,  for  it  is  said:  that  he 
"returned  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit  into  Galilee:  and 
there  went  out  a  fame  of  him  through  all  the  region 
round  about.  And  he  taught  in  their  synagogues, 
being  glorified  of  all"  (Luke  4: 14,  15)- 

It  is  a  fact  well  known  to  students  of  Hebrew  literature, 
that  the  Jewish  temple,  or  the  principal  house  of  wor- 
ship in  Jerusalem  in  the  time  of  Jesus'  ministry  was 
fashioned  in  its  form,  structure,  and  appointments,  after 
the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle  shown  Moses  on  the 
mount,  and  builded  by  the  inspired  artizan  Bezaleel. 
In   a    preceding    chapter    dealing  with   the   life   and 
character  of  Moses,  we  have  attempted  in  a  general 
way  to  explain  the  significance  of  the  tabernacle;  and 
it  is  only  necessary  now  to  repeat,  that  the  temple  in 
Jerusalem,   in  which  Jesus  is  said  to  have   "taught 
daily  "  (Luke  19 : 47),  was  in  all  respects  a  type  or  pattern 
of  the  tabernacle,  except  that  the  tabernacle  was  port- 
able, while  the  temple  was  concrete  and  immovable. 
If  it  is  true  that  the  outer  court  of  the  tabernacle 
represented  the  human  body,  and  its  inner  structure 
the  nature  of  the  soul  itself,  then  it  is  apparent  that 
the  Jewish  temple  in  Jerusalem  had  a  like  significance. 
In  the  second  chapter  of  John,  it  is  written,^" And 
the  third  day  there  was  a  marriage  in  Cana";  and 
Jesus,  and  his  disciples  were  called  to  the  marriage; 
and   that  Jesus   turned   water  into   wine.     Water  is 
typical  of  carnal  mind;  and  wine  is  a  symbol  of  wisdom. 
"  The  third  day,"  and  "the  seventh  day  "  are  expressions 
often   used   in   the   Scriptures   to   express   perfection. 
"  Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures  to-day  and 
to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  perfected" 
(Luke  13:32).     The  feast  of  Cana,  is  the  feast  that 
wisdom  gives  to  all  her  votaries;  it  is  the  celebration  of 


394  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  triumph  of  man  over  his  animal  nature.  "Wisdom 
hath  builded  her  house";  she  hath  builded  the  spiritual 
body;  she  hath  made  the  soul  perfect;  "she  hath  killed 
her  beasts;  she  hath  mingled  her  wine;  she  hath  also 
furnished  her  table"  (Prov.  9: 1-3).  This  is  the  celes- 
tial marriage  which  celebrates  the  unity,  the  concord, 
and  the  harmony  within  the  soul  itself.  The  mind 
and  the  heart  of  the  truly  great,  of  the  intuitional  and 
the  prophetic,  act  in  perfect  accord;  for  in  such  the 
lower  principle  of  the  soul  is  the  willing  servant  of 
the  higher.  When  Abraham  returns  from  conquering 
and  destroying  his  five  rebellious  kings,  a  symbol  of 
his  own  animal  nature,  he  is  given  a  feast.  Melchisedec 
the  king  of  wisdom,  the  priest  of  the  Most  High  God, 
"brought  forth  bread  and  wine"  (Gen.  14:  18).  "Your 
father  Abraham  saw  my  day,  and  rejoiced"  (John 
8 :  56).  Joseph,  who  "ruled  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt " 
was  an  attendant  at  the  feast  of  Cana  (Gen.  40:20). 
This  feast  may  have  been  experienced  by  Joseph 
while  in  prison,  for  in  its  real  nature  it  is  entirely 
personal.  The  faithful  Job,  it  seems,  was  banqueted 
on  the  third  day  (Job  42 :  1 1).  Jesus  is  here  represented 
as  having  attained  to  wisdom.  "His  mother  saith 
unto  the  servants,  Whatsoever  he  saith  unto  you,  do 
it"  (John  2:5).  "Wisdom  in  all  ages  entering  into 
holy  souls  hath  made  them  friends  of  God,  and  proph- 
ets" (Wisd.  of  Sol.  7:27).  What  Jesus  did  at  this 
feast,  is  said  to  have  marked  the  beginning  of  his 
miraculous  life;  for  it  is  written  that  he  "manifested 
forth  his  glory,  and  his  disciples  believed  on  him" 
(John  2: 12). 

After  this,  Jesus  and  his  disciples  went  down  to 
Capernaum;  and  they  continued  there  not  many  days. 
And  the  Jews'  passover  was  at  hand,  and  Jesus  went 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  395 

up  to  Jerusalem;  and  found  in  the  temple  those  that 
sold  oxen  and  sheep  and  doves  and  the  changers  of 
money;  and  when  he  had  made  a  scourge  of  small 
cords,  he  drove  them  all  out  of  the  temple.  And  he 
said  unto  them  that  sold  doves.  "Take  these  things 
hence;  make  not  my  Father's  house  an  house  of  mer- 
chandise." Then  answered  the  Jews  and  said  unto 
him,  "What  sign  showest  thou  unto  us,  seeing  that 
thou  doest  these  things.  Jesus  answered  and  said 
unto  them,  Destroy  this  temple  and  in  three  days  I 
will  raise  it  up."  Then  said  the  Jews,  "Forty  and  six 
years  was  this  temple  in  building,  and  wilt  thou  rear 
it  up  in  three  days?"  "But  he  spake  of  the  temple 
of  his  body."  "Your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  said  Paul.  The  temple  at  Jerusalem,  the 
symbol  of  the  body,  and  the  soul  of  man,  is  purged  of  all 
animalism;  all  that  is  carnal  and  sensual  is  cast  out. 
"Make  not  my  Father's  house  an  house  of  merchan- 
dise." This  story  is  a  repetition  of  the  Law  of  Human 
Life  proclaimed  by  Moses,  which  is,  that  all  vestiges 
of  animalism  within  the  soul  itself  must  be  sacrificed. 
This  law  points  the  way  whereby  man  arises  out  of  a 
state  of  animalism  into  a  state  of  humanism.  Envy, 
hate,  malice,  greed,  lust,  hypocrisy,  falsehood,  and 
murder,  are  some  of  the  animal  traits  that  infest  the 
consciousness  of  unregenerate  man;  they  are  the 
devils  that  are  forever  leading  man  in  every  direction 
except  the  right  one.  There  is  a  plane  of  consciousness 
that  transcends  the  carnal  and  animal.  It  is  disclosed 
in  the  lives  of  those  who  have  purged  the  temple  of  the 
animals,  the  money-changers,  and  them  that  sell  doves, 
and  who  sit  composedly  at  the  summit  of  the  temple 
and  command  and  cast  out  devils;  and  all  those  that 
abide  at  the  summit  of  the  temple  are  of  one  mind 


396  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

and  of  one  spirit;  they  are  so  because  they  are  the 
organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  is  entirely  given  to  holy 
offices:  to  Truth,  to  Wisdom,  to  Love,  and  to  Righteous- 
ness and  just  Judgment.  "For  as  many  as  are  led 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these  are  the  sons  of  God;  and 
the  Spirit  Itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit  that 
we  are  the  children  of  God"  (Rom.  8:  16).  The  just 
constitute  a  holy  fraternity;  there  is  no  brotherhood, 
except  the  brotherhood  of  the  just.  When  man,  the 
son  of  man,  is  lifted  up,  and  made  free  from  the  tor- 
ments of  obsessing  devils,  then  it  is  that  he  beholds  the 
Kingdom  of  God  wherein  is  life,  and  truth,  and  beauty, 
and  love,  and  harmony,  and  justice.  "When  ye  have 
lifted  up  the  son  of  man,  then  shall  ye  know  that  I  am 
he,  and  that  I  do  nothing  of  myself." 

"And  the  Jews'  passover  was  at  hand,  and  Jesus 
went  up  to  Jerusalem"  (John  2:  13).  Why  did  Jesus 
attend  the  feast  of  the  passover?  What  does  this  feast 
commemorate?  It  is  a  commemoration,  a  celebration, 
of  the  escape  of  man  out  of  the  sensuous  and  fallen 
state  represented  by  the  Egyptian  life.  All  the  faithful 
are  commanded  to  celebrate  this  glorious  event  in  the 
life  of  man.  "All  the  Congregation  of  Israel  shall  keep 
the  passover"  (Ex.  12:47).  "Remember  this  day,  in 
which  ye  came  out  from  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of 
bondage.  .  .  .  And  it  shall  be  a  sign  unto  thee  upon 
thine  hand,  and  for  a  memorial  between  thine  eyes,  that 
the  Lord's  Law  may  be  in  thy  mouth :  for  with  a  strong 
hand  hath  the  Lord  brought  thee  out  of  Egypt.  Thou 
shalt  therefore  keep  this  ordinance  from  year  to  year" 
(Ex.  13:3,9,  10). 

"Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise 
it  up"  (John  2:  19).  Whatever  power  man  has  over 
his  physical  body  is  the  result  of  the  improvement  of 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  397 

his  spiritual  body.  If  man  would  be  the  master  of  his 
outer  body,  he  must  first  make  perfect  his  inner  body. 
A  heavenly  work  indeed  is  the  building  of  the  spiritual 
body,  the  inner  body,  the  soul;  for  it  is  the  seat  of 
virtue;  it  is  the  abiding  entity. 

Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  returnest, 
Was  not  spoken  of  the  soul. 

LONGFELLOW. 

The  world  is  full  of  people  who  are  worried,  and 
hurried,    and    preoccupied;    they    are    enamored    of 
sensuous  things;  they  spend  all  their  energies  in  feeding, 
and  clothing,  and  housing,  and  in  giving  pleasure  to 
their  carnal  bodies;  and  their  spiritual  bodies  are  weak, 
blemished,    deformed,    and    dead.     Such    people    are 
said  to  be  dead  and  in  their  graves.     "And  ye  shall 
know  that  I  am  the  Lord,  when  I  have  opened  your 
graves"  (Ezek.  3?:  131  Hosea  13: 14;  Ps.  3i:  '7;  Dan. 
12-2;  John  5:28).     Life  and  death  are  states  of  1 
soul  'and  not  of  the  body.    The  work  of  man,  which  is 
decreed  of  Heaven,  and  which  takes  precedence  of  all 
other  work,  is  the  purification  of  the  soul,  the  making 
perfect  of  the   spiritual  body.     This  work  must  be 
concentered  on  the  soul;  for  the  purification  of  the 
soul  is  necessary  to  the  purification  of  the  body, 
lives  worthy  of  the  privileges  of  life  who  finds  delight  in 
the  improvement  of  his  soul,  the  inner  man.     "  I  delight 
in  the  Law  of  God  after  the  inner  man"  (Rom.  7:  22). 
Nature  works  from  the  inside  out.     "  He  is  good  whose 
soul  is  good,"  said  Plato.     The  natural  body  is  sensu- 
ous; it  cannot  initiate  the  spiritual.     "It  is  the  Spirit 
that  quickeneth;  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing.' 
first  that  which  is  within  the  cup  and  platter,  that  tl 
outside  of  them  may  be  clean  also"  (Matt.  23:  26). 


398  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

"Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise 
it  up"  (John  2: 19).  In  the  preceding  chapters  of  this 
book,  which  review  the  experiences  of  the  patriarchs 
and  prophets,  it  is  shown  that  there  are  three  epochs  in 
the  evolution  of  the  human  soul  and  these  epochs  are 
often  spoken  of  as  "three  days."  Jesus'  life,  like  the  life 
of  Moses  and  all  the  great,  is  an  illustration  of  the 
mode  and  manner  of  the  soul's  evolution.  The  life  of 
Moses  reveals  quite  clearly  the  three  epochs  in  the 
soul's  development. 

(i)  Moses  is  said  to  have  lived  forty  years  in 
Egypt.  This  is  the  Egyptian  epoch  of  his  life,  the 
Gentile  period.  It  is  written  that  this  period  of  his  life 
came  to  a  tragic  end,  and  that  he  fled  from  Egypt. 
(2)  It  is  said  that  Moses  was  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness ;  that  he  led  the  flock  to  the  back  side  of  the 
desert,  to  the  mountain  of  God,  even  to  Horeb.  By 
this  we  understand  that  Moses  underwent  a  great 
discipline  and  chastening.  In  a  word,  that  he  drank 
the  cup  of  adversity  to  its  dregs.  This  period  is  fig- 
uratively spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  as  a  fast  of  "forty 
days  and  forty  nights."  (3)  Jesus  tells  how  Moses 
was  resurrected  from  the  dead  at  Horeb.  Moses* 
escape  from  Egypt  prefigures  his  resurrection;  but  his 
illumination,  his  glorious  resurrection  was  realized  at 
Horeb.  "And  as  touching  the  dead,  that  they  rise: 
have  ye  not  read  in  the  book  of  Moses,  how  in  the  bush 
God  spake  unto  him,  saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham, 
and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob?  He  is  not 
the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living"  (Mark  12:23- 
27).  God  is  said  to  be  the  God  of  the  "living,"  of 
the  resurrected;  for  they  alone  are  conscious  of  God; 
those  in  the  Gentile  state  are  dead  to  God;  they  are 
unmindful  of  God,  and  the  Law  of  Human  Life.  It  is 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  399 

recorded  that  Moses  lived  forty  years  after  his  resur- 
rection ;  and  that  the  Law  of  Life,  or  the  Law  of  Jehovah 
was  given  to  the  people  of  Israel  through  him  during 
this  third  and  last  epoch  of  his  life  on  earth.  Moses,  it 
would  seem,  attained  to  the  Kingdom  of  God  forty 
years  before  he  departed  from  the  world.  "Verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  there  are  some  standing  here  which  shall 
not  taste  of  death  till  they  see  the  Kingdom  of  God" 
(Luke  9 127). 

The  Scriptures  refer  to  the  resurrection  as  occurring 
at  the  beginning  of  the  third  day ;  Hezekiah  was  healed 
on  "the  third  day, "  and  went  up  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord  (2  Kings  20:  5) ;  this  is  a  brief  way  of  saying  that 
the  illumination,  or  resurrection,  marks  the  beginning 
of  the  third  epoch  in  the  evolution  of  the  human  soul, 
as  is  illustrated  in  the  life  of  Moses.  It  is  evident  that 
Jesus  taught  the  same  doctrine  concerning  the  nature 
of  the  human  soul  and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its 
evolution  which  was  proclaimed  by  Moses.  Jesus 
referred  to  the  three  epochs  that  mark  the  journey 
of  the  human  soul  to  perfection  in  a  single  sentence. 
"Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures  to-day  and 
to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  perfected" 
(Luke  13:32).  Jesus,  like  Hezekiah  and  all  the  great 
of  old,  went  "up  into  the  house  of  the  Lord"  on  the 
"third  day." 

Jesus  often  referred  to  the  "third  day,"  or  the  day 
wherein  man  is  said  to  attain  to  perfection.  "Your 
father  Abraham  saw  my  day  and  rejoiced"  (John  8: 
56).  The  marriage  feast  in  Cana  on  the  third  day 
(John  2:1),  was  the  celebration  of  Jesus'  resurrection 
from  the  dead ;  of  his  death  to  the  sensuous  world ;  and 
of  his  birth  into  the  spiritual  life.  On  and  after  this 
day,  Jesus  is  a  son  of  God;  he  is  a  prophet;  he  is  an 


400  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  he  is  a  Master  in  Israel 
and  he  is  so  recognized  by  his  mother,  and  his  disciples. 
"His  mother  saith  unto  the  servants,  Whatsoever  he 
saith  unto  you,  do  it"  (John  2:5).  "This  beginning 
of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  he  mani- 
fested forth  his  glory;  and  his  disciples  believed  on 
him"  (John  2:11). 

Jesus  is  said  to  have  died  twice.  His  first  death 
was  a  death  to  the  world;  and  his  second  death  was 
upon  the  cross.  "Jesus  died  unto  sin  once;  but  that  he 
liveth;  he  liveth  unto  God"  (Rom.  6: 10).  "For  he 
that  is  dead  [to  the  world]  is  freed  from  sin"  (Rom. 
6:7).  "He  that  hath  suffered  in  the  flesh  [and  died 
to  the  world]  hath  ceased  from  sin"  (i  Peter  4:  i). 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit:  for  theirs  is  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven";  blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit:  for 
they  have  suffered  in  the  flesh,  and  are  depleted  of  the 
spirit  of  the  world.  "He  that  overcometh  [the  world] 
shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second  death"  (Rev.  2:  n). 
It  is  written  that  Jesus  was  twice  resurrected  from 
the  dead.  "The  God  of  peace  brought  again  from  the 
dead  our  master  Jesus  Christ,  that  great  shepherd  of  the 
sheep"  (Heb.  13:20).  "Christ  must  needs  have  suf- 
fered, and  risen  again  from  the  dead"  (Acts.  17:3). 

"And  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  but 
after  this  the  judgment:  So  Jesus  Christ  was  once 
offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many;  and  unto  them  that 
look  for  him  shall  he  appear  the  second  time  without 
sin  unto  salvation"  (Heb.  9:27,  28).  This  language 
may  be  thus  interpreted:  Every  man  would  he  at- 
tain to  his  true  inheritance  must  die  to  the  world; 
he  must  experience  a  judgment,  a  crisis,  a  discipline, 
a  chastening;  and  he  must  be  offered  up  "to  bear  the 
sins  of  many";  he  must  suffer  many  and  great  tempta- 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  401 

tions,  as  did  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  end  that  he,  like 
Christ,  may  "appear  [be  resurrected]  the  second  time 
without  sin  unto  salvation."  Jesus  Christ,  like  Moses, 
was  "a  great  shepherd  of  the  sheep";  he  lived  and 
taught  a  life.  "If  any  man  serve  me,  let  him  follow 
me ;  and  where  I  am  [the  state  of  consciousness  wherein 
I  abide],  there  shall  also  my  servant  be:  if  any  man 
serve  me  [if  any  man  will  live  the  life  that  I  live], 
him  will  my  Father  honour"  (John  12:  26). 

"Jesus  in  the  days  of  his  flesh,  when  he  had  offered 
up  prayers  and  supplications  with  strong  crying  and 
tears  unto  Him  that  was  able  to  save  him  from  death, 
and  was  heard  in  that  he  feared;  though  he  were  a  Son, 
yet  learned  he  obedience  by  the  things  which  he  suffered ; 
and  being  made  perfect,  he  became  the  author  of  eternal 
salvation  unto  all  them  that  obey  him;  called  of  God 
an  high  priest  after  the  order  of  Melchisedec"  (Heb. 
5:7-10).  This  language  admits  of  the  following  in- 
terpretation: Jesus,  in  the  days  that  he  lived  the 
life  of  the  flesh,  the  life  of  the  natural  man,  offered 
up  prayers  and  supplications  in  great  seriousness  unto 
Him  that  was  able  to  resurrect  him  from  the  dead,  and 
was  heard  and  was  resurrected  in  that  he  feared  God  and 
was  faithful;  though  he  were  a  son  of  God  because  of 
such  resurrection,  yet  learned  he  obedience  during  the 
day  of  his  judgment,  of  his  chastening,  by  the  things 
that  he  suffered;  and  being  made  perfect,  he  became 
the  author  of  eternal  salvation  unto  all  them  who 
obey  him;  and  being  called  of  God,  being  resurrected 
from  the  state  of  death,  he  is  an  high  priest  after  the 
order  of  Melchisedec. 

"If  therefore  perfection  were  by  the  Levitical  priest- 
hood [for  under  it  the  people  were  taught  the  precepts 
of  the  Law],  what  further  need  was  there  that  another 


402  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

priest  should  arise  after  the  order  of  Melchisedec,  and 
not  be  called  after  the  order  of  Aaron?  For  the  priest- 
hood being  changed,  there  is  made  of  necessity  a  change 
also  of  the  Law.  .  .  .  For  the  Law  maketh  men  high 
priests  which  have  infirmity,  but  the  word  of  the  oath, 
which  was  since  the  Law,  maketh  the  son  which  is 
consecrated  forevermore"  (Heb.  7:11,  12,  28).  "For 
the  priesthood  being  changed,  there  is  made  of  necessity 
a  change  also  of  the  Law";  the  priesthood  after  the 
order  of  Aaron  were  the  teachers  of  the  precepts  of  the 
Law;  they  were  of  the  order  of  the  natural  man,  and 
were  possessed  of  his  infirmities ;  but  the  writing  of  the 
Law  of  God  in  the  human  heart  is  demonstrated  by  a 
prieshood  "after  the  order  of  Melchisedec."  Jesus 
belonged  to  "the  order  of  Melchisedec."  An  order 
bespeaks  a  class,  a  brotherhood,  a  fraternity.  It 
therefore  follows  that  Jesus  Christ  belongs  to  the  great 
fraternity  which  the  Scriptures  describe  as  teachers 
sent  of  God,  Prophets,  Masters,  and  Saviors. 

"The  word  of  the  oath,  which  was  since  the  Law, 
maketh  the  son,  who  is  consecrated  forevermore." 
The  word  of  God,  the  promise  of  God  is  not  realized 
by  the  observance  of  precepts.  The  writing  of  the 
Law  in  the  heart  supersedes  the  precepts,  and  make 
man  the  son  of  God,  "who  is  consecrated  for  evermore." 
This  transition  from  government  by  precepts;  by 
inhibitions  and  commands  from  without,  to  a  righteous 
government  from  within  the  soul  itself,  is  graphically 
described  in  the  fortieth  Psalm  (6-  8),  and  again  in 
Paul's  letter  to  the  Hebrews  (10:  i-io). 

The  priesthood  of  the  order  of  Aaron  teaches  the 
precepts  of  the  Law,  and  perform  offices  that  prefigure 
the  offices  of  the  higher  priesthood;  this  priesthood 
prepares  the  way  for  the  coming  of  a  higher;  and  being 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  403 

of  the  world,  it  suffers  the  mutations  incident  to  the 
life  of  the  natural  man  (Heb.  7:23).  Man's  religion 
consists  first  in  outward  forms  and  observances,  but 
if  he  be  faithful,  the  day  will  come  when  he  will  know 
that  the  whole  drama  of  religion  must  be  changed  from 
without  to  within  the  soul  itself.  "Sacrifice  and  offer- 
ing thou  didst  not  desire;  mine  ears  hast  thou  opened: 
burnt  offering  and  sin  offering  hast  thou  not  required. 
Then  said  I,  Lo,  I  come:  in  the  volume  of  the  book 
it  is  written  of  me,  I  delight  to  do  Thy  Will,  O  my 
God;  yea,  the  Law  is  within  my  heart"  (Ps.  40:6-8; 
Heb.  10:6-9).  When  God  hath  opened  the  ears  of 
man,  when,  Lo,  man  comes  to  understand,  then  he 
perceives  that  outward  precepts  must  give  place  to  the 
inner  Law,  then  he  is  moved  to  say,  "I  come,  I  under- 
stand, in  the  volume  of  the  book  it  is  written  of  me  [of 
my  soul]:  I  delight  to  do  Thy  Will,  O  my  God:  yea, 
Thy  Law  is  written  in  my  heart."  Then  it  is  said, 
"God  taketh  away  the  first  [the  precepts  of  the  Law], 
that  he  may  establish  the  second"  [the  Law  within  the 
heart]  (Heb.  10:9). 

The  name  Melchisedec  means  "king  of  righteousness." 
"Behold,  thy  king  cometh  unto  thee:  he  is  just;  he 
points  the  way  of  salvation ;  he  is  lowly,  and  rides  upon 
an  ass"  (Zech.  9:9).  The  priesthood  after  the  order 
of  Melchisedec  is  the  priesthood  of  the  resurrected. 
They  who  are  resurrected  from  the  dead  are  begotten 
of  God ;  they  are  the  sons  of  God,  and  the  organs  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  "Thou  art  my  son;  this  day  have  I 
begotten  thee"  (Ps.  2:7;  Heb.  5:5).  They  of  this 
priesthood  are  "called  of  God,"  they  are  resurrected; 
they  are  the  great  teachers,  and  masters  sent  of  God 
to  point  the  way  of  salvation;  their  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world;  they  are  our  elder  brothers;  they  belong  to  a 


404  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

holy  brotherhood,  and  are  "an  unchangeable  priest- 
hood" (Heb.  7:  24).  "We  have  heard  out  of  the  Law 
that  Christ  abideth  forever"  (John  12:34;  Ps-  89:36, 
37;  110:4;  Isa-  9:7;  Ezek.  37:25;  Dan.  2:44).  Mel- 
chisedec,  Moses,  and  Jesus  are  some  of  those  who  belong 
to  this  high  and  holy  order,  "consecrated  for  evermore" 
(Heb.  7 :  28).  They  of  this  high,  holy,  and  eternal  order 
are  the  great  of  Israel;  they  are  all  worshipers  of  the 
One  Living  and  Almighty  God ;  and  they  teach  the  same 
truths  concerning  the  human  soul,  and  the  mode  and 
manner  of  its  evolution;  and  every  member  of  this 
brotherhood  represents  in  his  own  life  the  fulfillment  of 
the  Law;  they  all  speak  according  to  the  Law  and  the 
Testimony;  they  are  attuned  to  Heaven's  Law;  they 
are  the  organs  of  the  Law  and  the  Testimony. 

Jesus  told  the  Pharisees  that  men  are  held  account- 
able for  the  words  they  speak.  This  resembles  the 
thought  of  Socrates  the  sage  of  Athens:  "False  words 
are  not  only  evil  in  themselves,  but  they  infect  the  soul 
with  evil."  "It  is  by  your  order,  O  Lord,"  said  St. 
Augustine,  "that  all  irregularity  of  mind  should  carry 
its  punishment  along  with  it."  The  affirmance  of 
truth  is  mentality  and  life  acting  in  obedience  to 
Heaven's  Law.  By  the  constant  affirming  of  the 
truth  the  soul  of  man  is  conformed  to  the  divine  order; 
and  thus  we  have  the  condition  by  which  the  soul  of 
man  is  established;  the  condition  whereby  he  attains 
to  a  larger  and  a  fuller  life;  "and  the  Highest  Himself 
shall  establish  her,"  the  soul  of  man  (Ps.  87:5).  "I 
am  come  that  ye  may  have  life;  and  have  it  more 
abundantly"  (John  10: 10).  He  who  violates  the 
privileges  of  life ;  he  who  is  a  liar  and  a  hypocrite ;  he  who 
is  knowingly  unjust ;  is  on  the  side  of  confusion,  atrophy, 
and  death.  Every  rational  being  by  choosing  to  be 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  405 

just  can  attain  to  the  rest  and  peace  of  Heaven;  and 
every  such  being  who  chooses  to  do  evil  reaps  confusion, 
atrophy,  and  hell  itself. 

"For  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by 
thy  words  thou  shalt  be  condemned.  Then  certain  of 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees  answered,  saying,  Master, 
we  would  see  a  sign  from  thee.  But  he  answered  and 
said  unto  them,  An  evil  and  adulterous  generation 
seeketh  after  a  sign;  and  there  shall  no  sign  be  given 
to  it,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas:  For  as  Jonas 
was  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  whale's  belly; 
so  shall  the  son  of  man  be  three  days  and  three  nights 
in  the  heart  of  the  earth"  (Matt.  12:37-40).  Again 
man's  sojourn  upon  earth  is  likened  to  three  days;  and 
again  man  is  said  to  be  resurrected  on  the  third  day. 

"No  sign  shall  be  given,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet 
Jonas."  The  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonah  is  the  sign  of 
the  resurrection ;  he  declares  this  sign  who  makes  mani- 
fest in  his  own  life  "the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom 
of  God"  (i  Cor.  i :  24).  It  is  written  that  this  sign  was 
gloriously  demonstrated  in  the  life  of  Jesus  at  the 
feast  of  Cana.  This  is  the  miracle  of  miracles ;  because 
it  is  a  demonstration  of  the  divinity  of  man.  "This 
beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee, 
and  manifested  forth  his  glory;  and  his  disciples  be- 
lieved on  him"  (John  2:11).  The  whale,  the  fish, 
is  a  symbol  of  the  resurrection;  the  water  in  which  the 
living  fish  abides  typifies  the  carnal  mentality  of  the 
world.  The  fish  when  drawn  out  of  the  water  dies. 
Man  must  be  drawn  out  of  the  water  (2  Sam.  22: 17; 
Ps.  18: 16;  144:7);  he  must  die  to  the  spirit  of  the 
world,  if  he  would  attain  to  the  measure  of  the  stature 
of  Christ  (Eph.  4: 13).  Moses  is  the  name  of  him  who 
was  drawn  out  of  the  water  of  the  Nile;  and  Jesus  came 


406  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

up  out  of  the  waters  of  the  Jordan.  This  is  the  fate 
of  God's  elect.  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee, 
Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he 
cannot  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God"  (John  3:5). 

There  is  much  in  the  Scriptures  to  indicate,  that 
Peter,  John,  and  James  the  brother  of  John,  were  the 
most  spiritually  developed  of  Jesus'  disciples;  and  for 
this  reason  they  were  most  in  his  company  and  con- 
fidence. "And  he  suffered  no  man  to  follow  him,  save 
Peter,  and  James,  and  John  the  brother  of  James" 
(Mark  5 :  37) .  Spiritual  truths  are  spiritually  perceived ; 
they  are,  therefore,  only  apprehended  by  those  who  are 
prepared  to  receive  them.  "Every  one  that  is  of  the 
truth  heareth  my  voice."  The  three  disciples  named 
were  fishermen.  In  the  fifth  chapter  of  Luke,  it  is 
written,  that  Jesus  came  to  the  lake  of  Gennesaret; 
and  that  he  taught  the  people  out  of  the  ship  of  Simon 
Peter.  "Now  when  he  had  left  off  speaking,  he  said 
unto  Simon,  Launch  out  into  the  deep,  and  let  down 
your  nets  for  a  draught.  And  Simon  answering  said 
unto  him,  Master,  we  have  toiled  all  night,  and  have 
taken  nothing :  nevertheless  at  thy  word  I  will  let  down 
the  net."  It  is  said  that  they  drew  out  of  the  water 
a  great  multitude  of  fish,  enough  to  fill  two  ships. 
"When  Simon  Peter  saw  it,  he  fell  down  at  Jesus' 
knees,  saying,  Depart  from  me;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man, 
O  Lord.  For  he  was  astonished,  and  all  that  were  with 
him,  at  the  draught  of  the  fishes  which  they  had  taken : 
and  so  was  James,  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee, 
which  were  partners  with  Simon.  And  Jesus  said  unto 
Simon,  Fear  not;  from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch 
men.  And  when  they  had  brought  their  ships  to  land, 
they  forsook  all  and  followed  him."  These  fishermen 
are  the  first  to  abandon  their  vocation,  and  forsake  all, 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  407 

and  follow  the  Master;  they  are  the  first  to  "launch  out 
into  the  deep" ;  and  they  are  the  first  to  be  resurrected. 

This  is  the  story  of  the  resurrection ;  it  is  the  story  of 
him  who  has  "toiled  all  night,  and  has  taken  nothing" 
but  has  faith  enough  left  to  let  down  the  net,  to  do  his 
duty.  It  is  the  story  of  man's  awakening  out  of  a 
state  of  death  into  a  state  of  life.  Peter  fell  down  at  the 
knees  of  Jesus,  saying,  "  Depart  from  me ;  for  I  am  a  sinful 
man."  This  story,  outwardly  historical  but  inwardly 
psychological,  is  a  true  portrayal  of  the  way  of  salva- 
tion. Man  must  be  willing  to  forsake  all,  when  he 
goes  in  pursuit  of  the  truth,  if  he  would  attain  to  a 
glorious  resurrection.  "They  forsook  all,  and  followed 
him";  they  were  drawn  out  of  the  water.  Peter, 
John,  and  James  represent  the  character  of  their  Master: 
Peter  stood  for  wisdom,  the  virtue  of  the  head;  John 
for  that  goodness  of  heart  that  knows  no  fear;  and 
James  for  temperance,  the  restraint  and  mastery  of  the 
lower  principle  of  the  soul. 

Nothing  can  be  more  certain  concerning  the  life  of 
Jesus  than  that  he  taught  the  Law  of  Human  Life 
proclaimed  by  Moses.  "Think  not  that  I  am  come 
to  destroy  the  Law  or  the  prophets :  I  am  come  not  to 
destroy,  but  to  fulfil.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  Till 
heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  tittle  shall  in  nowise 
pass  from  the  Law,  till  all  be  fulfilled.  Whosoever 
therefore  shall  break  one  of  these  least  commandments, 
and  shall  teach  men  so,  he  shall  be  called  the  least  in 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven:  but  whosoever  shall  do  and 
teach  them,  the  same  shall  be  called  great  in  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven."  The  Scriptures  announce  principles 
that  point  the  way  of  salvation;  and  these  principles 
are  called  the  "Law,"  and  they  must  necessarily  find 
fulfillment  in  every  life  that  attains  to  perfection. 


408  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

"All  things  must  be  fulfilled,  which  were  written  in 
the  Law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  Prophets,  and  in  the 
Psalms,  concerning  me"  (Luke  24:44).  If  the  Law 
proclaims  principles  that  point  the  way  of  the  soul's 
evolution,  then  can  any  human  soul  attain  to  perfec- 
tion unless  it  religiously  fulfills  what  is  written  in  the 
Law  of  Moses,  and  repeated  and  emphasized  by  the 
prophets,  and  the  psalmists? 

The  Torah  was  represented  in  the  life  of  Moses; 
he  was  and  is  the  Law.  His  soul  was  attuned  to  the 
Law  (Ex.  20:  19).  All  the  great  prophets  condemned 
the  Israelites  because  they  did  not  obey  the  Law  (Isa. 
8:20;  Jer.  8:8,  9;  Amos  2:4;  Hosea  8:  I,  12;  Dan. 
9:  il).  Jesus  stood  firmly  and  unqualifiedly  for  the 
Law.  "Did  not  Moses  give  you  the  Law,  and  yet 
none  of  you  keepeth  the  Law?"  (John  7: 19).  Jesus 
was  a  great  prophet,  as  Emerson  has  said.  "Jesus 
Christ  belonged  to  the  true  race  of  prophets.  He  saw 
with  an  open  eye  the  mystery  of  the  soul.  Drawn 
by  its  serene  harmony,  ravished  by  its  beauty,  he  lived 
in  it,  and  had  his  being  there.  Alone  of  all  humanity, 
he  estimated  the  greatness  of  Man." 

The  iniquities  of  the  people  are  laid  upon  the  prophet 
(Isa.  53:11);  they  were  laid  upon  Ezekiel  (Ezek. 
4:4,  5) ;  they  were  laid  upon  Moses  (Num.  n :  n,  12) ; 
and  "Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many" 
(Heb.  9:28).  "To  bear  our  sins"  is  to  endure  and 
overcome  temptations  and  trials;  he  who  has  attained 
to  the  state  of  prophecy  has  passed  through  previous 
states  of  trial  and  temptation.  All  the  great  have 
borne  the  iniquities  of  the  people;  they  were  made 
perfect  by  suffering.  Man's  death  to  his  animal 
nature,  and  his  birth  into  the  spiritual  and  the  human 
is  necessarily  attended  with  much  suffering.  Jesus 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  409 

tells  his  followers  that  they  must  drink  of  his  cup,  and 
be  baptized  of  his  baptism  (Matt.  20:  22,  23).  God's 
elect  are  they  who  have  fulfilled  the  Law. 

"Jesus  Christ  belonged  to  the  true  race  of  prophets"; 
and,  like  Moses  and  all  the  great,  he  was  resurrected 
from  the  dead  on  "the  third  day."  He  who  would 
attain  to  a  glorious  resurrection  must  walk  with  God; 
he  must  "bear  the  sins  of  many";  he  must  suffer  sore 
trials  and  temptations.  "Nevertheless  I  must  walk 
to-day,  and  to-morrow,  and  the  day  following:  for  it 
cannot  be  that  a  prophet  perish  out  of  Jerusalem" 
(Luke  13:33).  People  often  talk  of  going  to  another 
and  a  better  world.  Moses  and  Jesus  do  not  talk  of 
another  world,  but  they  did  demonstrate  in  their  lives 
and  teachings  a  high  and  holy  state  of  consciousness; 
they  did  demonstrate  that  the  mentality  of  man,  the 
Son  of  Man,  may  be  lifted  up  into  a  conscious  relation 
with  the  Source  of  Being;  and  when  one  attains  to  this 
high  and  holy  kingdom,  old  things  are  said  to  pass  away ; 
and  the  new  condition  is  likened  to  "a  new  Heaven  and 
a  new  earth."  Jesus,  like  Moses,  and  Elijah,  and 
Pythagoras,  and  all  of  God's  elect  taught  the  way  of 
human  life.  "Elias  was  zealous  and  fervent  for  the 
Law  "  (i  Mace.  2 :  58) .  They  who  love  the  Law,  and  live 
in  obedience  to  It,  teach  a  life.  "I  am  the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but 
by  me."  No  man  can  attain  to  the  Kingdom  of  God 
except  he  live  in  obedience  to  the  Law  of  Human  Life. 

The  simple,  orderly,  and  righteous  life  of  Jesus 
has  been  obscured  and  clouded  and  made  unthinkable, 
impractical,  and  inimitable  by  theological  and  meta- 
physical abstractions.  Prof.  Max  Muller,  in  a  letter 
to  a  Hindoo  philosopher,  said:  "If  you  speak  of  Christ 
as  not  perfectly  human,  in  his  own  sense  of  the  word, 


410  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

you  make  an  idol  of  him,  and  you  utterly  destroy  the 
very  soul  of  his  religion."  It  stands  to  reason  that  Jesus' 
life  is  most  persuasive  for  moral  uplift,  when  regarded 
as  natural,  imitable,  and  human.  Righteousness 
is  righteousness  because  it  is  natural;  "evil  is  evil 
because  it  is  unnatural."  Evil  is  evil  because  it  is 
essentially  animal,  and  not  human.  The  simple,  the 
holy,  the  just  life  is  one  lived  in  obedience  to  Heaven's 
law;  the  wicked,  the  false,  the  unjust  life  is  one  lived 
in  absolute  disregard  of  the  divine  order.  There  is 
nothing  easy,  frank,  unrestrained,  or  natural,  about  the 
conceited  and  worldly  wise.  Every  soul  that  is  attuned 
to  the  divine  order  demonstrates  the  power  and  glory 
of  God;  and  is  conscious  of  an  unspeakable  rest  and 
peace.  "Every  unordered  life  is  its  own  punishment, " 
said  St.  Augustine.  Every  such  life  is  the  victim  of 
suffering  and  torments.  Every  unordered  life  repre- 
sents what  Emerson  called  "arrested  development." 

It  is,  therefore,  singular  that  the  life  of  a  great 
prophet,  so  free,  so  natural,  so  orderly,  so  just,  and 
so  divinely  human,  should  be  made  so  unnatural,  so 
mysterious,  and  so  aloof  from  all  human  experience. 
The  natural  is  the  knowable,  the  self-evident.  The 
unnatural  is  the  mysterious,  the  fabulous,  the  false. 
The  just  man  is  controlled  of  reason;  reason  is  the 
first-born  of  God ;  and  is  One  and  inseparable  in  heaven 
and  earth.  Truth  is  the  Law  of  reason;  "he  that  doeth 
the  truth  cometh  to  the  Light,"  to  wisdom.  The 
unjust  man  is  controlled  by  a  horde  of  animal  traits: 
anger,  hate,  falsehood,  hypocrisy,  revenge,  lust,  malice, 
greed,  pride,  and  envy;  and  these  several  devils  each 
in  turn  being  his  master,  it  is  impossible  to  predict 
his  conduct.  "There  is  but  one  right,"  said  Thomas 
Huxley,  "and  the  possibilities  of  wrong  are  infinite." 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  411 

That  "Jesus  belonged  to  the  true  race  of  prophets" 
is  told  again  and  again  in  symbols;  these  symbols  show 
that  he  was  resurrected,  like  all  great  teachers  and 
prophets,  out  of  a  state  of  death  into  a  state  of  real  life; 
that  he  was  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit;  that  he  was 
possessed  of  a  soul  which  conformed  in  its  principles 
to  every  other  human  soul ;  and  that  his  soul  was  made 
perfect  by  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law  of  Human  Life. 
In  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  Matthew,  it  is  written, 
that  Jesus  rode  into  Jerusalem  sitting  upon  an  ass. 
"Behold,  thy  king  cometh  to  thee,  meek,  and  sitting 
upon  an  ass."  "And  the  multitude  said,  This  is 
Jesus  the  prophet  of  Nazareth  of  Galilee."  The 
horse  is  a  symbol  of  war,  and  of  the  unrestrained 
passions.  "Woe  to  them  that  go  down  to  Egypt;  and 
stay  on  horses"  (Isa.  31 :  I ;  Deut.  17:  16).  The  proud, 
the  conceited,  the  vain,  and  the  warlike  are  said  to  put 
their  trust  in  chariots  and  horses  (Ps.  20:7).  The 
domestic  ass  is  the  symbol  of  meekness,  of  obedience, 
of  patience,  and  of  service.  In  a  word,  the  ass  is  the 
symbol  of  the  lower  principle  of  man  in  a  state  of 
absolute  restraint  and  subserviency  to  reason.  That 
which  is  above  should  be  regnant;  and  that  which  is 
below  should  be  subservient.  The  prophets  and  wise 
men  of  old  are  represented  as  riding  upon  asses.  "  Speak, 
ye  that  ride  on  white  asses,  ye  that  sit  in  judgment" 
(Judges  5 :  10).  The  wise  man,  the  just  man,  he  who  is 
fit  to  administer  judgment,  is  said  to  come  like  a  king. 
"Behold,  thy  king  cometh  unto  thee:  he  is  just;  he 
points  the  way  of  salvation ;  he  is  lowly,  and  rides  upon 
an  ass"  (Zech.  9:9). 

Symbols,  like  principles,  give  fixity  to  knowledge. 
Many  of  the  deepest  and  profoundest  truths  taught  by 
the  prophets,  and  philosophers,  and  ancient  sages  would 


412  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

be  entirely  lost  to  the  people  of  to-day,  if  it  were  not 
that  these  truths  were  taught  in  symbols.  The  conceits 
of  men  are  such  that  they  are  often  willing  to  interpret 
documents  in  a  manner  most  comfortable  to  their  own 
prejudices  and  preconceived  opinions;  and  no  doubt 
some  have  been  so  bold  as  to  make  interpolations 
in  furtherance  of  their  opinions  and  conceits.  The 
Scriptures  announce  principles;  and  these  deep  truths 
of  human  nature  were  necessarily  taught  in  parables, 
and  in  allegories,  and  in  symbols;  and  if  we  would 
understand  the  Scriptures  this  sign  language  must  be 
interpreted  by  a  free  mind  wholly  intent  upon  knowing 
the  truth  for  the  truth's  sake.  Nothing  is  Scripture 
except  what  is  sound  in  principle.  "Know  this  first, 
that  no  prophecy  of  Scripture  is  of  any  private  inter- 
pretation" (2  Peter  1:20). 

"The  Law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  truth 
came  by  Jesus  Christ"  (John  1:17).  The  Law  was 
given  by  Moses,  but  mercy,  truth,  and  wisdom  were 
made  manifest  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  "I  had  not 
known  sin  but  for  the  Law.  .  .  .  The  Law  is  holy.  .  .  . 
The  Law  is  spiritual"  (Rom.  7:7,  12,  14).  The  Law 
points  the  way  of  salvation.  The  Law  and  the  Testi- 
mony are  revealed  in  the  life  of  the  prophet;  therefore, 
the  Law  and  the  Testimony  are  One.  "The  Law 
of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  transforming  the  soul :  the  Testi- 
mony of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple" 
(Ps.  19:  7).  "To  the  Law  and  the  Testimony:  if  they 
speak  not  according  to  this  Word,  it  is  because  there  is 
no  light  in  them"  (Isa.  8:20).  They  who  have  ful- 
filled the  Law  represent  in  their  own  lives  "grace 
[mercy]  and  truth."  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and 
the  life";  and  by  this  we  understand  Jesus  to  say: 
"I  am  the  Law  and  the  Testimony." 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  413 

The  Hebrew  prophets  and  psalmists  contemplated 
the  Law  with  inexpressible  joy  and  thanksgiving; 
they  beheld  in  this  Law  the  way  of  salvation;  they  be- 
held in  it  untold  and  indescribable  possibilities;  they  saw 
that  it  pointed  the  way  of  human  perfection;  they  saw 
that  this  Law  transcends  time  and  place  and  postu- 
lates the  immortality  of  the  human  soul.  What  an  in- 
describable joy  attends  the  contemplation  of  Heaven's 
Law!  "Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  behold  won- 
drous things  out  of  Thy  Law.  .  .  .  Thy  Law  is  my 
delight.  .  .  .  O  how  I  love  Thy  Law ;  it  is  my  meditation 
all  the  day.  .  .  .  Thy  Law  is  the  truth  "  (Ps.  119: 18,  77, 
97,  142).  "This  is  the  book  of  the  commandments  of 
God,  the  Law  that  endureth  forever;  all  they  that  keep 
it  shall  come  to  life ;  but  such  as  leave  it  shall  die.  .  .  . 
O  Israel,  happy  are  we :  for  the  things  that  are  pleasing 
to  God  are  made  manifest  unto  us"  (Baruch  4:  1-4). 

When  the  human  soul  is  made  perfect  by  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  Law,  then  is  it  emancipated  from  the 
precepts  of  the  Law,  then  is  the  soul  free  and  joyous, 
then  is  the  soul  attuned  to  mercy,  truth,  and  justice; 
then  is  the  Law  written  in  the  heart,  then  is  the  soul 
involuntarily  moved  of  a  Spirit  and  an  inner  Law, 
so  universal,  so  subtle,  so  harmonious,  so  glorious,  and 
so  unspeakably  joyous,  that  nothing  can  know  it,  or 
keep  it,  but  a  soul  attuned  to  God  Himself. 

In  a  volume  containing  a  course  of  Lectures  entitled 
Judaism  and  Its  History,  by  Dr.  Abraham  Geiger, 
Rabbi  of  an  Israelite  Congregation  at  Frankfort  on  the 
Main,  is  the  following  observation  concerning  Jesus  of 
Nazareth: 

He  was  a  Jew,  a  Pharisean  Jew  with  Galilean  coloring 
— a  man  who  joined  in  the  hopes  of  his  time  and  who 


414  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

believed  that  those  hopes  were  fulfilled  in  him.  He  did 
not  utter  a  new  thought,  nor  did  he  break  down  the  barriers 
ofinationality.  When  a  foreign  woman  came  to  him  with  a 
request  to  heal  her  daughter,  he  said,  "It  is  not  meet  to 
take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  the  dogs."  He 
did  not  abolish  any  part  of  Judaism ;  he  was  a  Pharisee  who 
walked  in  the  way  of  Hillel;  and  he  did  not  set  the  most 
decided  value  upon  every  single  external  form;  yet  he 
proclaimed  that  "not  the  least  tittle"  should  be  taken  from 
the  Law;  "The  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat,  and  whatsoever 
they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do." 

We  believe  it  is  fair  to  say,  that  Jesus,  like  Paul,  was 
a  "Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews;  and  as  touching  the  Law 
a  Pharisee"  (Phil.  3:5).  Jesus  accused  the  Pharisees 
of  having  "omitted  the  weightier  matters  of  the  Law: 
judgment  [justice],  mercy,  and  faith"  (Matt.  23:23); 
the  attributes  that  make  manifest  the  Law  of  God  in 
the  human  heart ;  and  he  condemned  them  for  spending 
their  time  in  tithing  "mint  and  anise  and  cummin." 
This  is  evidently  a  figure  of  speech.  It  means  that  the 
Pharisees,  instead  of  teaching  the  Law,  and  living 
worthy  of  the  Law,  were  secular  and  worldly.  "Did 
not  Moses  give  you  the  Law,  and  yet  none  of  you 
keepeth  the  Law"  (John  7:  19).  Jesus  found  no  fault 
with  the  teachings  of  the  Pharisees;  but  he  did  flay 
them  without  mercy  for  saying  one  thing  and  doing 
another.  "The  scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in  the 
seat  of  Moses:  therefore,  whatsoever  they  bid  you 
observe,  that  observe  and  do,  but  do  not  follow  after 
their  works;  for  they  say  and  do  not"  (Matt.  23: 2, 3). 

Jesus,  a  Pharisee  as  touching  the  Law,  accused  the 
Pharisees  of  his  day  of  being  liars,  hypocrites,  and 
whited  sepulchres.  Perhaps  nothing  was  more  calcu- 
lated to  inspire  hatred  and  revenge  in  the  hearts  of  the 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  415 

Pharisees,  than  to  have  one  of  their  own  faith  utterly 
repudiate  their  conduct,  and  tell  the  people  openly  that 
they  were  worse  than  the  publicans  and  the  harlots. 
"Verily  I  say  unto  you,  That  the  publicans  and  harlots 
go  into  the  Kingdom  of  God  before  you"  (Matt.  21: 
31).  Jesus  believed  that  he  who  knows  what  is  right 
and  assumes  to  be  righteous;  and  is  yet  worldly  and 
sensual,  is  a  hypocrite,  and  is  deserving  of  punishment 
above  others.  "That  servant,  which  knew  his  Lord's 
will,  and  prepared  not  himself,  neither  did  according  to 
His  will,  shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes.  But  he 
that  knew  not  .  .  .  shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes." 

"Jesus,"  said  Rabbi  Geiger,  "joined  in  the  hopes  of 
his  time,  and  believed  that  those  hopes  were  fulfilled  in 
him."  This  is  evidently  true.  "This  generation  shall 
not  pass  until  all  things  be  fulfilled"  (Matt.  24:34). 
Perhaps  no  man  ever  lived  who  more  perfectly  demon- 
strated the  Law  of  Human  Life,  and  the  possibilities 
of  man,  than  did  Jesus  Christ.  He  did  not  assume  to 
teach  a  new  and  different  doctrine  from  what  was 
taught  in  the  Law;  but  he  did  assume  to  live  a  life  in 
absolute  accord  with  the  Law.  "All  things  must  be 
fulfilled,  which  were  written  in  the  Law  of  Moses, 
and  in  the  Prophets,  and  in  the  Psalms,  concerning 
me"  [concerning  my  soul]  (Luke  24:  44). 

If  Moses  gave  to  the  world  the  correct  doctrine 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  human  soul;  and  the  mode  and 
manner  of  its  evolution,  then  it  stands  to  reason,  that 
every  rational  being  who  would  attain  to  perfection 
must  fulfill  what  is  written  concerning  the  human  soul 
in  the  Law  of  Moses  and  in  the  Prophets,  and  in  the 
Psalms.  What  the  prophets  and  psalmists  taught  after 
the  time  of  Moses  is  but  a  restatement  and  an  amplifica- 
tion of  the  Law.  Jesus  knew  that  religious  principles, 


4i6  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

like  all  other  truths,  exist  independent  of  this  or  that 
individual,  or  this  or  that  institution;  in  a  word,  that 
they  are  revealed  in  every  human  soul;  and  that  they 
are  susceptible  of  an  actual  demonstration  in  a  life 
lived  in  obedience  to  them. 

"It  seems  difficult  to  conceive,"  said  Theodore 
Parker,  "why  moral  and  religious  truths  should  rest 
for  their  support  on  the  authority  of  their  revealer  any 
more  than  the  truths  of  Science  on  that  of  him  who 
makes  them  known  first  or  most  clearly."  That  which 
is  demonstrable  is  not  a  matter  of  speculation.  Reli- 
gion is  not  a  matter  of  argument.  When  the  soul  of 
man  is  virtuous  and  upright  before  God,  he  will  find 
rest,  and  peace,  and  comfort;  and  he  will  not  be 
solicitous  about  the  future.  "The  just  shall  live  by 
faith."  "That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  made 
manifest  to  the  Just"  (Rom.  i:  19).  The  Law  points 
the  way;  and  he  who  fulfills  the  Law  will  in  the  end 
demonstrate  that  it  is  true.  "Pythagoras, "  said  Plato, 
"was  beloved,  and  his  successors,  at  this  day  call  their 
way  of  life  by  his  name,  and  they  do  appear  to  have  a 
certain  distinction  above  other  men."  Jesus  taught 
the  way  of  life;  and  his  life  was  a  glorious  demonstra- 
tion of  the  perfection  of  the  Law,  and  of  the  possibilities 
of  every  human  soul.  ' '  The  most  lamentable  scepticism 
on  earth,  and  incomparably  the  most  common,  is  a 
scepticism  as  to  the  greatness,  powers,  and  high  desti- 
nies of  human  nature.  In  this  greatness  I  desire  to 
cherish  an  unwavering  faith."  These  are  the  inspired 
words  of  William  Ellery  Channing,  and  we  have  quoted 
them  often  hoping  that  they  may  impress  the  reader. 

"I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water  unto- repentance ; 
but  he  that  cometh  after  me  is  mightier  than  I ;  he  shall 
baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire"  (Matt. 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  417 

3:11).  Baptism  with  water  is  a  symbol  of  outward 
cleanliness;  baptism  with  fire  suggests  the  sacrifice,  the 
burning  up,  the  utter  destruction  of  all  that  is  impure, 
and  low,  and  animal  within  the  depths  of  the  soul.  "I 
am  come  to  send  fire  on  the  earth.  ...  I  have  a  baptism 
to  be  baptized  with;  and  how  am  I  straitened  till  it  be 
accomplished?"  (Luke  12:49,  50).  "Many  are  called, 
but  few  are  chosen."  Many  are  there  who  subscribe 
to  outward  forms,  but  few  are  there  who  live  superior 
to  all  sensuous  temptations.  Many  pass  through  the 
water,  many  pretend  to  be  virtuous;  but  few  with- 
stand every  temptation,  and  abide  the  fire.  "Re- 
member what  things  God  did  to  Abraham,  and  how  He 
tried  Isaac,  and  what  happened  to  Jacob  in  Mesopotamia. 
.  .  .  For  He  hath  not  tried  us  in  the  fire  as  He  did  them" 
(Judith  8:  26). 

Fire  and  water  are  the  two  great  cleansing  elements 
in  nature.  Water  cleanseth  outwardly,  and  fire  to  the 
innermost  depths;  water  initiates,  and  fire  completes 
the  work  of  purification.  "All  that  abideth  not  the 
fire  ye  shall  make  go  through  the  water"  (Num.  31: 
23).  Spiritual  development  is  attended  by  great 
suffering ;  in  being  born  into  the  higher  state  of  conscious- 
ness, man  must  necessarily  die  to  that  which  is  low. 
Jesus  was  made  perfect  by  suffering.  "Men  and 
women  are  only  half  human."  Man  must  die  to  his 
animal  nature  if  he  would  be  wholly  just  and  entirely 
human.  This  was  demonstrated  by  the  sacrifice  of 
the  animals  at  the  altar  of  the  tabernacle,  and  it  was 
also  taught  and  illustrated  by  Jesus  when  he  drove  the 
animals  and  those  that  sold  doves  out  of  the  temple  at 
Jersualem.  This  is  the  supreme  ordeal :  this  is  the  burnt 
offering:  this  is  the  baptism  with  fire.  "These  mine 
enemies,  which  would  not  that  I  should  reign  over 


4i 8  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

them,  bring  hither,  and  slay  them  before  me"  (Luke 
19:27).  Anger,  hate,  malice,  revenge,  lust,  greed, 
hypocrisy,  falsehood,  and  murder:  these  animal  traits, 
these  devils,  "  these  mine  enemies  "  which  would  not  that 
reason  should  reign  over  them,  bring  hither,  and  slay 
them  before  me.  "Thou  hast  given  me  the  shield  of 
Thy  salvation;  and  Thy  right  hand  hath  holden  me  up, 
and  Thy  gentleness  hath  made  me  great.  ...  I  have 
pursued  mine  enemies,  and  overtaken  them;  neither 
did  I  turn  till  they  were  consumed.  I  have  wounded 
them  that  they  are  not  able  to  rise:  they  are  fallen 
under  my  feet.  For  Thou  hast  girded  me  with  strength 
unto  the  battle:  thou  hast  subdued  under  me  those 
that  rose  up  against  me"  (Ps.  18:35-42).  They  who 
have  put  an  end  to  the  worship  of  the  golden  calf; 
they  who  have  driven  the  animals  out  of  the  temple; 
they  who  have  gone  to  Horeb  the  mount  of  God,  and 
passed  the  ordeal  of  the  storm,  the  earthquake,  and  the 
fire,  and  have  heard  the  still  small  voice,  are  the  trans- 
figured ones. 

It  is  written  in  Matthew  and  in  Mark  that  after 
six  days  Jesus  taketh  with  him  Peter,  and  James,  and 
John,  and  leadeth  them  up  into  a  high  mountain  apart 
by  themselves;  and  he  was  transfigured  before  them. 
And  his  raiment  became  shining,  exceeding  white  as 
snow.  .  .  .  And  there  appeared  unto  them  Elias  with 
Moses:  and  they  talked  with  Jesus.  And  Peter  an- 
swered and  said  to  Jesus,  Master,  it  is  good  for  us 
to  be  here:  and  let  us  make  three  tabernacles;  one 
for  thee,  and  one  for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elias.  In 
Luke  (9:28),  it  is  said  that  this  "came  to  pass  about 
the  eighth  day."  The  seventh  day,  like  the  third,  is 
indicative  of  perfection.  It  is  the  day  when  God's 
image  and  likeness  is  made  manifest  in  man;  it  is  the 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  419 

day  when  the  power  and  glory  of  God  is  ultimated 
and  made  manifest  in  the  human.  Divinity  dwells  in 
and  is  ultimated  in  glorified  humanity. 

The  number  eight,  the  eighth  day,  signifies  the 
beginning  or  the  commencement  of  a  new  state. 
"Among  you,  he  that  is  eight  days  old  shall  be  cir- 
cumcised" (Gen.  17:  12).  Circumcision  is  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  Jewish  child  to  virtue ;  it  marks  the  beginning 
of  a  new  state.  He  who  is  baptized  with  water  is  dedi- 
cated to  virtue ;  this  is  the  essence  of  the  vow  of  baptism. 
The  transfiguration,  it  would  seem,  took  place  on  the 
seventh  day,  on  the  Sabbath  Day.  The  word  Sabbath 
means  rest;  rest  and  peace  come  with  the  perfection 
of  character.  The  Law  of  Jehovah  designates  the 
seventh  day  as  a  day  of  rest  and  peace.  The  seventh 
day  was  not  set  apart  for  rest,  and  meditation,  and 
worship  arbitrarily,  as  the  vulgar  have  supposed;  but 
it  was  established  in  conformity  with  human  nature 
itself.  The  keeping  of  the  Sabbath,  of  the  seventh 
day,  is  a  perpetual  commemoration  of  the  perfection 
of  man,  of  his  glorification  and  transfiguration.  What 
day  in  Heaven  and  earth  is  more  worthy  of  a  perpetual 
celebration,  than  the  day  when  man  is  said  to  attain  to 
perfection,  than  the  day  when  both  God  and  man  are 
said  to  have  ceased  from  work,  and  to  be  at  rest?  All 
they  that  seek  to  be  just  are  said  to  be  "co-workers 
with  God"  (i  Cor.  3:9).  "Blessed  is  the  man  that 
keepeth  the  Sabbath  from  polluting  it,  and  keepeth 
his  hand  from  doing  any  evil"  (Isa.  56:  2). 

"And  Peter  answered  and  said  to  Jesus,  Master,  it  is 
good  for  us  to  be  here :  and  let  us  make  three  tabernacles ; 
one  for  thee,  and  one  for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elias." 
The  tabernacle  erected  in  the  wilderness  was  intended 
to  represent,  and  did  represent  the  human  body  and  the 


420  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

human  soul.  The  care  in  building  the  tabernacle, 
the  perfection  and  purity  of  the  materials  used,  its 
rare  and  chaste  furnishings,  the  sacredness  with  which 
it  was  regarded,  and  the  horror  inspired  by  its  desecra- 
tion, all  tend  to  prefigure  the  perfection  of  the  human 
soul  itself.  Peter,  it  would  seem,  conceived  the  idea 
that  he,  and  John,  and  James  should  build  three  taber- 
nacles like  those  of  the  glorified  and  transfigured  Jesus, 
Moses,  and  Elias.  We  sincerely  believe  that  Peter, 
John,  and  James  did  build,  with  the  help  of  God,  three 
tabernacles  resembling  those  of  the  three  great  masters ; 
for  without  this  it  was  impossible  that  they  should  have 
attained  to  a  realization  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
"Master,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here."  Nothing  on 
earth  is  so  comforting,  edifying,  and  inspiring  as  the 
life  of  a  good  and  holy  person.  A  great  human  per- 
sonality is  a  veritable  river  of  divine  life  and  power. 
"There  went  virtue  out  of  him,  and  healed  them  all." 
When  a  great  prophet  comes  with  his  divine  message, 
it  is  written,  "that  God  hath  visited  His  people" 
(Luke  7:  16;  1 :  68).  The  transfiguration  was  a  revela- 
tion of  the  power  and  glory  of  God  made  manifest  in 
righteous  human  souls;  and  this  eternal  Sabbath  of 
peace,  and  rest,  and  glory  is  the  inheritance  of  all  the  just. 
Edmund  Hamilton  Sears,  in  his  estimable  book, 
Foregleams  and  Foreshadows  of  Immortality  (of  which 
there  are  many  editions)  says: 

We  have  referred  to  the  transfiguration  as  an  illustration 
of  the  truth  that  man's  inward  being  is  not  a  metaphysical 
abstraction,  but  an  organism  in  human  form,  and  more 
substantial  than  its  material  coverings.  .  .  .  Jesus  took 
his  three  favorite  disciples  behind  the  walls  of  sense,  and 
caught  them  up  a  moment  within  the  sphere  where  he  lived 
with  the  prophets  of  old;  and  they  said,  "Let  us  pitch  our 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  421 

tents  and  dwell  here."  Was  that  shadowy?  After  the 
natural  body  had  been  excluded,  he  broke  upon  Saul  in  a 
light  out  of  the  heavenly  state,  and  smote  him  blind  to 
the  earth  beneath  the  blaze.  Was  that  shadowy?  The 
prophet  of  Patmos,  by  introversion  among  the  eternal 
verities,  crossed  the  line  which  separates  the  objective 
scenery  of  matter  and  Spirit,  and  saw  "Him  that  was 
dead  and  is  alive  again,"  and  fell  as  beneath  the  stroke 
of  sunbeams.  Was  that  shadowy?  All  the  revealings  of 
Christ's  resurrection,  before  and  after,  show  that  the  inward 
man  is  the  real  one,  while  the  outward  is  the  symbol. 

That  the  human  soul  is  "not  a  metaphysical  ab- 
straction, but  an  organism  in  human  form, "  was  taught 
by  Moses,  and  Plato,  and  Jesus,  and  all  the  truly  great. 
"Thou  son  of  man,  show  the  house  to  the  congregation  of 
Israel,  that  they  may  be  ashamed  of  their  iniquities: 
and  let  them  measure  the  pattern"  (Ezek.  43:10). 
Moses  set  the  tabernacle,  a  symbol  of  a  clean  and 
righteous  soul  before  the  children  of  Israel,  and  com- 
manded them  to  make  their  souls  "after  the  pattern 
which  was  shown  him  in  the  mount."  "  He  is  my  God, 
and  I  will  prepare  him  an  habitation"  (Ex.  15:2). 
Jesus,  when  he  had  driven  the  animals  and  the  changers 
of  money  out  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  said :  "  Take 
these  things  hence;  make  not  my  Father's  house  an 
house  of  merchandise"  (John  2:  16).  Plato  in  his  dia- 
logue, Phadrus,  says:  "The  soul  that  has  never  per- 
ceived truth,  cannot  pass  into  the  human  form." 
"Your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  (i  Cor. 
6:  19).  Perhaps  it  was  Charles  Kingsley,  the  famous 
English  clergyman,  who  said:  "Your  soul  makes  your 
body  as  a  snail  makes  its  shell."  The  clear-seeing 
Emerson,  in  his  essay,  The  Poet,  says:  "The  soul 
makes  the  body,  as  the  wise  Spenser  teaches." 


422  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

For,  of  the  soul,  the  body  form  doth  take, 
For  the  soul  is  form,  and  doth  the  body  make. 

SPENSER. 

"Thou  son  of  man,  show  the  house  to  the  congrega- 
tion of  Israel."  "To  your  tents,  O  Israel:  now  see  to 
thine  own  house,  thou  son  of  David.  So  Israel  de- 
parted into  their  tents"  (i  Kings  12: 1 6).  "Jesus 
took  his  three  favorite  disciples  behind  the  walls  of 
sense,  and  caught  them  up  for  a  moment  within  the 
sphere  where  he  lived  with  the  prophets  of  old."  "And 
the  Lord  appeared  unto  Isaac,  and  said,  Go  not  down 
into  Egypt;  dwell  in  the  land  which  I  shall  tell  thee  of" 
(Gen.  26:2).  "And  God  said  unto  Jacob,  Arise,  go 
up  to  Bethel  [the  house  of  God,  the  Kingdom  of  God], 
and  dwell  there"  (Gen.  35:  i).  Jesus  took  his  three 
disciples  who  were  most  illumined,  who  were  most 
spiritually  developed,  who  were  most  capable  of  seeing 
"behind  the  walls  of  sense,"  and  revealed  to  them  the 
high  and  holy  and  godlike  possibilities  of  man.  And 
they  said,  "Let  us  pitch  our  tents  and  dwell  here." 
"They  that  be  wise  [they  that  be  teachers  of  truth, 
they  that  be  just]  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the 
firmament;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness 
as  the  stars  forever  and  ever"  (Dan.  12:  3;  Prov.  4:  18). 
Evil  tends  to  darkness  and  confusion,  to  disfiguration, 
within  the  soul ;  and  truth  and  justice  to  transfiguration. 

Seeing  "behind  the  walls  of  sense"  is  not  a  matter 
of  favor;  it  is  the  privilege  of  those  who  .are  called  of 
God  to  "Go  up  to  Bethel,  and  dwell  there." 

And  since  he  kept  his  mind  on  one  sole  aim, 
Nor  ever  touched  fierce  wine,  nor  tasted  flesh, 
Nor  owned  a  sensual  wish — to  him  the  wall 
That  sunders  ghosts  and  shadow-casting  men 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  423 

Became  a  crystal,  and  he  saw  them  through  it, 
And  he  heard  their  voices  talk  behind  the  wall, 
And  learned  their  elemental  secrets,  powers, 
And  forces. 

TENNYSON:  Merlin  and  Vivien. 

Mortals  that  would  follow  me, 
Love  Virtue;  she  alone  is  free. 
She  can  teach  you  how  to  climb 
Higher  than  the  sphery  chime; 
Or,  if  Virtue  feeble  were, 
Heaven  itself  would  stoop  to  her. 

MILTON:  Comus. 

Moses  the  Law  of  Life  proclaimed ; 

Elias  the  prophet  restored  the  same. 

Jesus  fulfilled  the  Law,  his  life  the  demonstration; 

And  thus  the  three  in  transfiguration. 

Peter,  John,  and  James  united  stood. 
They  represent  the  brotherhood. 
They  faithful  were  to  Heaven's  call; 
And  thus  they  saw  behind  the  wall. 

The  Spirit  in  Peter  faith  revealed; 
In  John  the  love  of  God  and  man; 
In  James  works  and  temperance  bold; 
And  thus  the  keys  the  Spirit  holds. 

Would  man  the  keys  of  heaven  arrest, 
Let  Virtue  in  his  heart  be  blessed. 
Would  he  the  secrets  of  Heaven  know, 
Let  him  the  seed  of  Virtue  sow. 

Moses,  it  would  seem,  was  the  first  to  teach  a  multi- 
tude, a  great  congregation  of  people,  the  high  and  holy 
possibilities  of  man ;  he  illustrated  in  his  own  life  what 
lie  taught;  he  was  and  is  the  ideal  of  his  people.  It  is 


424  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

written  that  he  stood  before  the  assembled  of  Israel  on 
the  day  that  he  brought  them  the  Law,  in  a  state  of 
exaltation,  in  a  state  of  transfiguration  (Ex.  34 : 29- 
35).  The  Law  and  the  Testimony  are  One;  they  were 
revealed  in  the  life  of  Moses;  he  was  the  Law  and  the 
Testimony.  "The  Law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  trans- 
forming the  soul;  the  Testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure, 
making  wise  the  simple "  (Ps.  19:7).  "To  the  Law  and 
the  Testimony :  if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  Word, 
it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them"  (Isa.  8:20). 
The  one  infallible  test  of  the  prophet  is :  Is  he  a  living 
illustration  of  the  Law  and  the  Testimony? 

It  is  written  that  Moses  led  twelve  princes,  and 
their  confederated  tribes,  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  to 
the  end  that  they  might  honor  and  worship  the  Most 
High  God;  and  through  this  great  prophet  God  "visited 
His  people"  (Luke  7:  16)  and  gave  to  them  the  Law, 
"the  Law  that  endureth  forever"  (Baruch  4:  i),  the 
Law  of  the  Human  Soul.  Moses  had  his  seventy 
elders;  they  were  elders  because  they  were  eldest  in 
wisdom  and  justice.  It  is  said  that  the  spirit  that  was 
upon  Moses  was  communicated  to  the  seventy,  and 
that  they  prophesied  (Num.  11:25).  Character  is 
communicable.  Great  is  the  glory  of  him  who  is  the 
organ  whereby  the  Spirit  and  power  of  God  is  com- 
municated to  others;  and  accursed  is  he  who  communi- 
cates sin,  sickness,  and  death  to  his  fellows.  "They 
that  turn  many  to  righteousness  shall  shine  as  the 
stars  of  heaven"  (Dan.  12:  3). 

Every  just  person,  every  person  who  is  governed 
from  within,  and  not  from  without;  in  a  word,  every 
person  who  is  self-governing  is,  according  to  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  governed  of  God.  All  the  just  are  related 
to  the  Kingdom  of  God.  "  For  in  the  division  of  nations 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  425 

of  the  whole  earth  God  set  a  ruler  over  every  people; 
but  Israel  is  the  Lord's  portion"  (Jesus  Son  of  Sir. 
17:17;  i  Kings  8:53;  Josh.  24:22;  Amos  3:2).  "I 
will  not  rule  over  you,  neither  shall  my  son  rule  over 
you;  the  Lord  shall  rule  over  you"  (Judges  8:23; 
I  Sam.  8:7;  10:19;  12:12).  Moses  sought  to  make 
manifest  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  in  the  hearts 
of  men;  the  end  and  aim  of  his  administration  was  to 
develop  a  self-governing  people;  a  people  so  wise,  so 
charitable,  and  so  just  that  they  each  and  all  would  act 
in  harmony  with  the  will  of  Heaven.  Moses  sought  to 
make  manifest  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  "The 
foundation  of  Church  and  State  is  not  numbers  or  force, 
but  Character,"  said  Emerson.  "Character  is  the 
true  Theocracy;  it  will  one  day  suffice  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  world." 

"Elias  was  zealous  and  fervent  for  the  Law"  (i  Mace. 
2:52).  When  the  people  in  the  northern  kingdom  of 
Israel  had  fallen  into  a  state  of  debauchery  and  idolatry 
unexampled  in  the  history  of  all  Israel;  and  when 
Jezebel  the  queen  was  about  to  abolish  circumcision, 
the  mark  that  distinguished  the  children  of  the  promise 
from  the  children  of  the  flesh ;  and  when  she  was  leading 
a  campaign  of  extermination  against  all  who  stood  for 
the  religion  of  the  Law,  Elijah  appears  upon  the  scene. 
The  God  before  whom  he  stands  is  revealed  in  his 
name;  "Jehovah  is  my  God;  Jehovah  is  my  strength." 
He  is  the  Law  and  the  Testimony;  and  he  speaks 
"according  to  this  Word."  He  comes  to  restore 
Heaven's  Law.  It  is  obedience  to  Heaven's  Law 
that  restores  all  things  to  their  right  order.  He  meets 
Ahab,  the  King,  face  to  face  and  tells  him  of  his  infi- 
delity. "Ye  have  forsaken  the  commandments  of 
the  Lord"  (i  Kings  18:  18).  He  commands  the  King 


426  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

to  convene  the  prophets  of  Baal  at  Mount  Carmel; 
and  it  is  written  that  he  exterminated  these  proph- 
ets; that  he  said  to  the  people:  "Let  not  one  of 
them  escape."  "And  Ahab  told  Jezebel  all  that  Elijah 
had  done,  and  withal  how  he  had  slain  all  the  prophets 
with  the  sword."  The  sword  is  an  ancient  symbol  of 
justice;  it  therefore  seems  that  Heaven's  justice  was 
administered  to  the  leaders  at  the  Bacchanalian  feasts, 
to  the  defamers  of  Israel's  God. 

Elijah  is  the  great  preaching  prophet;  he  is  the 
voice  in  the  wilderness  calling  all  men  to  repentance; 
he  is  the  avowed  enemy  of  the  soft,  the  luxurious,  and 
the  sensuous  life  of  Egypt.  Every  man  who  makes  no 
compromise  with  evil,  and  proceeds  fearlessly  against 
it  with  a  drawn  sword,  belongs  to  the  Elias  ministry. 
"Elias  must  first  come  and  restore  things"  to  their  right 
order  (Matt.  17:  10,  12).  There  is  a  tradition  that 
Elijah  lives  in  the  desert.  According  to  the  symbolism 
of  the  Scriptures,  the  teacher  of  the  Law  abides  in  the 
wilderness.  They  who  repent  offer  their  first  sacrifice 
in  the  desert.  "Let  us  go,  we  pray  thee,  three  days' 
journey  into  the  desert,  and  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord 
our  God"  (Ex.  5:3).  He  who  makes  no  compromise 
with  evil  must  "bear  the  sins  of  many  " ;  the  desert  life  is 
descriptive  of  that  period  of  the  soul's  evolution  that  is 
attended  with  trials,  provocation,  and  suffering.  "Let 
man  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me  " 
(Matt.  16:24).  Elijah  is  the  ever-recurring  type  of 
him  who  prepares  the  way.  "Behold,  I  will  send  you 
Elijah  the  prophet  before  the  coming  of  the  great  and 
dreadful  day  of  the  Lord"  (Mai.  4:5).  Elijah  is  not 
attended  by  twelve  princes  who  are  to  represent  the 
government  of  God  on  earth;  nor  does  he  appoint 
seventy  wise  men  to  administer  justice  without  fear 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  427 

or  favor.  His  office  is  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
coming  of  him  who  will  seek  to  establish  the  Kingdom 
of  God  on  earth. 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  embodiment  of  the  Law; 
it  was  fulfilled  in  him;  he  was  the  Law  and  the  Testi- 
mony. He  pointed  to  his  own  life  as  the  demonstration 
of  what  he  taught.  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life:  no  man  cometh  to  the  Father,  but  by  me"  (John 
14:  6).  Jesus  had  his  seventy  whom  he  sent  forth  "as 
lambs  among  wolves";  they  were  his  elders;  they  were 
directed  to  heal  the  sick;  and  to  say,  "  The  Kingdom  of 
God  is  come  nigh  unto  you"  (Luke  10:  9).  The  King- 
dom of  God,  the  kingdom  of  reason  and  of  wisdom,  is 
nigh  unto  all  that  are  virtuous;  it  is  nigh  unto  all  who 
obey  the  Law.  It  is  realized  by  the  just.  "Seek  ye 
first  the  Kingdom  of  God."  Jesus  had  his  twelve;  they 
were  his  princes  whom  he  led  out  of  the  Egyptian  state 
of  consciousness;  one  of  these,  Judas,  returned  to  the 
Egyptian  life.  To  the  faithful  eleven,  it  is  written, 
that  Jesus  communicated  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  that  he 
commanded  them,  saying,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world, 
and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature"  (Mark 

16:15). 

The  intent  and  purpose  of  Jesus'  mission  was  to 
communicate  the  religion  of  Israel,  the  ancient  wisdom 
religion,  the  One  religion  that  is  in  perfect  accord  with 
human  nature  itself  to  every  rational  being.  This 
religion  has  for  its  aim  the  realization  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  in  the  hearts  of  men.  "  Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom 
of  God."  The  Law  is  addressed  to  "every  one  having 
knowledge  and  having  understanding"  (Neh.  10:28; 
Deut.  31:  ii,  12).  "And  Ezra  the  priest  brought  the 
Law  before  the  congregation  both  of  men  and  women, 
and  all  that  could  hear  with  understanding"  (Neh. 


428  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

8:2).  This  recalls  the  words  of  Plato  in  his  dialogue 
The  Republic:  "Nor  must  I  forget  to  tell  of  the  liberty 
and  equality  of  the  two  sexes  in  relation  to  each  other." 

Jesus  instructed  his  disciples  to  preach  "repentance 
and  remission  of  sins  in  his  name  among  all  nations, 
beginning  at  Jerusalem ' '  (Luke  24 : 47) .  This  command 
to  "begin  at  Jerusalem"  was  in  entire  harmony  with 
the  moral  and  religious  condition  then  existing  in  the 
world.  The  Jewish  temple  in  Jersualem  was  the  ren- 
dezvous of  the  learned  and  devout  of  Israel.  Jerusa- 
lem was  the  rallying  point  of  the  brotherhood  of  Israel. 
It  was  there  that  the  faithful  collected  to  celebrate  the 
moral  triumphs  of  Israel.  It  was  there  that  the  con- 
gregated thousands  in  unison  sang  hymns,  and  prayed, 
and  burned  incense  in  honor  of  the  One  Living  Almighty 
God.  It  was  there  that  the  Pharisees  who  sat  in 
Moses'  seat  taught  the  precepts  of  the  Law  in  an 
acceptable  way.  "Whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe, 
that  observe  and  do"  (Matt.  23:  3). 

Jesus'  insistence  was  that  the  Jews  themselves 
had  fallen  into  a  state  of  decadence;  that  they  did  not 
live  lives  consistent  with  what  they  knew  and  assumed 
in  words  to  teach.  "  Did  not  Moses  give  you  the  Law, 
and  yet  none  of  you  keepeth  the  Law?  Why  go  you 
about  to  kill  me?"  (John  7:19).  Jesus  sought  to 
reform  the  Jews  first ;  and  then  proceed  to  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  Gentiles;  he  sought  first  to  reclaim  "them 
that  were  nigh, "  and  then  proceed  to  them  "which  were 
afar  off"  (Eph.  2:  17).  "Repent,  and  ye  shall  receive 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  the  promise  is  to  you, 
and  to  your  children,  and  to  all  that  are  afar  off"  (Acts 
2:38,  39;  10:45).  All  of  Jesus'  disciples  were  Jews. 
None  are  prepared  to  live  and  teach  the  religion  of 
Israel  except  those  who  are  Israelites  at  heart.  "They 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  429 

are  not  all  Israelites,  which  are  of  Israel"  (Rom.  9:  6). 
"He  is  a  Jew  which  is  one  inwardly"  (Rom.  2:29). 
He  is  a  Jew  whose  soul  is  conformed  to  the  Law;  and  he 
is  a  Gentile  who  lives  in  disregard  of  Heaven's  Law. 
Remember  this:  "the  giving  of  the  Law,  and  the 
service  of  God,  and  the  promises"  are  all  made  to 
Israel  (Rom.  9:4).  "Salvation  is  of  the  Jews"  (John 
4:22). 

Moses  and  Jesus  are  the  two  great  Masters  that 
stand  in  the  very  forefront  of  the  religious  world. 
Moses  is  the  central  figure  of  Old  Testament  literature, 
as  Jesus  is  of  the  New.  They  both  sought  a  like  end, 
to  wit:  the  salvation  of  mankind.  "In  Abraham  shall 
all  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed"  (Gen.  12:3). 
"One  Law  shall  be  to  him  that  is  homeborn,  and  to 
the  stranger  that  sojourneth  among  you"  (Ex.  12:49). 
One  Law  shall  be  to  "him  that  is  nigh,"  and  to  "him 
that  is  afar  off."  Moses,  and  Elias,  and  Jesus,  each 
represented  in  his  life  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law;  each 
carried  the  Law  and  the  Testimony  in  his  heart;  and 
spoke  "according  to  this  word." 

Religion  is  personal ;  goodness  is  personal ;  wickedness 
is  personal.  No  one  can  fulfill  the  Law  of  Human  Life 
for  another.  "Though  these  three  men:  Noah,  Daniel, 
and  Job  were  in  it  [the  land  of  the  wicked],  they  should 
deliver  but  their  own  souls  by  their  righteousness" 
(Ezek.  14: 14).  "Though  Moses  and  Samuel  stood 
before  Me,  yet  My  Mind  could  not  be  toward  this 
people:  cast  them  out  of  my  sight,  and  let  them  go 
forth"  (Jere.  15:  i).  "God  is  no  respecter  of  persons: 
But  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  Him,  and  worketh 
righteousness,  is  acceptable"  (Acts  10:34,  35)-  All 
perfected  lives  are  alike  in  this,  that  they  are  conformed 
to  Heaven's  Law;  and  are  thus  attuned  to  the  One 


43°  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Holy  Spirit  that  is.  "For  had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye 
would  have  believed  me;  for  he  wrote  of  me"  (John 
5: 46,  47).  Moses  wrote  the  story  of  the  human  soul; 
he  wrote  of  you,  and  "he  wrote  of  me." 

Jesus  Christ,  in  his  ministry,  sought  first  the  re- 
formation of  Israel,  and  through  Israel  the  whole  of 
mankind.  "Go  first  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel."  Elias  must  first  come  and  restore  Israel. 
Jesus  sought  to  communicate  the  religion  of  Israel  to 
every  rational  creature  in  the  world;  and  thus  to  free 
men  from  the  obsessions  of  the  animal  world;  and  to 
bring  them  into  a  conscious  relation  with  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  if  my 
kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants 
fight."  Jesus  sought  to  make  men  righteous  and  self- 
governing.  Divine  government  is  revealed  in  individual 
self-government.  They  who  are  pure  in  mind  and 
heart,  they  who  live  superior  to  the  spirit  of  the  world, 
they  who  live  and  act  in  obedience  to  conscience  and 
reason,  are  governed  of  God,  and  not  of  men.  The 
office  of  Jesus  Christ,  like  that  of  all  the  great,  is  to 
lead  men  to  live  above  the  spirit  of  the  world.  "Lo, 
I  am  with  you  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world" 
(Matt.  28:  20). 

Man  attains  to  self-mastery,  not  by  imitating  an- 
other, but  by  living  and  acting  in  obedience  to  the 
highest  within  his  own  soul.  Man,  Manas,  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God,  was  put  into  the  human  soul, 
"into  the  Garden  of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  keep  it" 
(Gen.  2:15).  Jesus  sought  to  establish  the  Kingdom  of 
God  in  the  hearts  of  men  on  earth.  "Our  Father 
which  art  in  Heaven,  Hallowed  be  thy  name.  Thy 
kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in 
Heaven."  Jesus  sought  to  bring  all  men  into  a  knowl- 


Jesus  of  Nazareth  431 

edge  of  the  Law  of  Human  Life,  the  Law  of  Righteous- 
ness. "It  becometh  us  to  fulfill  all  righteousness" 
(Matt.  3:  15).  In  a  word,  Jesus  sought  to  bring  all 
men  into  a  realization  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and 
the  brotherhood  of  man.  "Have  we  not  all  One 
Father?  Hath  not  One  God  created  us  all?"  (Mai. 
2:  10).  "Call  no  man  your  father  upon  earth:  for  one 
is  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven"  (Matt.  23:  9). 

Our  estimate  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  is  fairly  summed  up  in  the  following  excerpts 
taken  from  an  article  by  James  Freeman  Clarke 
entitled,  The  Originality  of  Jesus. 

Highest  of  all  are  the  souls  who  have  become  fountains 
of  spiritual  life,  satisfying  the  longing  of  the  human  heart 
for  goodness  and  God.  Those  who  have  held  up  the  great 
Law  of  Righteousness,  who  have  taught  mankind  Justice, 
who  have  inspired  the  heart  with  generosity,  who  have 
awakened  and  satisfied  the  thirst  for  divine  things, — these 
are  the  most  original  of  all,  for  to  them  men  trace  the  origin 
of  the  noblest  work  done  on  earth.  These  sit  in  the  highest 
places,  among  the  immortals,  the  prophets,  saints,  pacifiers 
of  the  world.  They  have  been  sent  of  God  in  every  time 
and  to  every  land,  divine  teachers  to  lift  men  above  what 
is  merely  earthly,  and  to  show  them  the  eternal  world  in 
which  God  dwells.  .  .  .  This  was  the  type  of  originality  of 
which  Jesus  was  the  loftiest  specimen  ever  shown  on  earth. 
He  went  up  by  going  down.  He  went  down  in  sympathy 
with  the  poor,  the  lepers,  the  publicans,  the  hard  worldly 
men,  the  weak  sinful  creatures  around  him.  ...  He  came 
to  fulfill  all  righteousness.  .  .  .  This  was  the  originality  of 
Christ;  not  discovering  some  truth  never  thought  of  before, 
but  summing  up  into  one  fulness  and  harmony  all  the  great 
truths;  uniting  this  life  and  the  next;  making  time  and 
eternity  one.  We  call  one  man  a  saint,  another  a  hero, 
another  a  martyr,  another  a  sage,  another  a  reformer 


432  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

another  a  philanthropist.  We  never  think  of  giving  any  of 
these  names  to  Jesus,  but  yet  all  of  them  were  in  him.  .  .  . 
This  is  his  perfection.  It  is  fullness;  the  complete,  well- 
rounded,  entire  human  life,  in  which  man,  being  perfect, 
becomes  one  with  God. 


CHAPTER  XII 

PAUL 

"Let  us  walk  by  the  same  rule,  let  us  mind  the  same   thing" 
(Phil.  3:16). 

SAUL  of  Tarsus,  surnamed  Paul,  was  a  Grecian  Jew. 
He  was  a  descendant  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin ;  he  was  a 
Pharisee.  "I  am  a  Pharisee,  the  son  of  a  Pharisee: 
of  the  hope  and  resurrection  of  the  dead  I  am  called  in 
question"  (Acts  23:6).  He  belonged  to  that  class  of 
Jews  who  taught  that  man  is  resurrected  out  of  a  state 
of  carnality  and  death  into  a  state  of  life  and  spirituality. 
"My  manner  of  life  from  my  youth,  which  was  first 
among  mine  own  nation  at  Jerusalem,  know  all  the 
Jews;  which  knew  from  the  beginning,  if  they  would 
testify,  that  after  the  strictest  sect  of  our  religion 
I  lived  a  Pharisee  And  now  I  stand  and  am  judged 
for  the  hope  of  the  promise  made  of  God  unto  our 
fathers:  .  .  .  Why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  in- 
credible with  you,  that  God  should  raise  the  dead"? 
(Acts  26 : 4-8).  The  dead  here  spoken  of  are  they  who 
are  dead  in  sin  and  carnality;  they  who  are  dead  to 
the  spiritual  state  of  consciousness.  Life  and  death 
are  states  of  the  soul,  and  not  of  the  body.  They  who 
have  no  knowledge  of  spiritual  things  are  said  to  be 
dead  and  in  their  graves.  "When  I  have  opened  your 
2»  433 


434  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

graves,  0  My  people,  and  brought  you  up  out  of  your 
graves:  .  .  .  then  shall  ye  know  that  I  the  Lord  have 
spoken  it"  (Ezek.  37:12,  13;  John  5:28;  I  John  5: 
16,  17;  Ps.  31:17;  Hosea  13: 14;  Dan.  12: 2).  He  who 
lives  in  obedience  to  the  desires  of  the  flesh  is  dead  to 
the  spiritual  state.  "If  ye  live  after  the  flesh  ye  shall 
die." 

The  foolish,  the  conceited,  the  sensual,  the  animalized 
are  always  attempting  to  account  for  the  works  of 
nature,  and  for  life  and  mentality  in  some  way  other 
than  that  pointed  out  by  religion.  But  it  can  be  said 
with  perfect  truthfulness  that  many  of  the  profoundest 
physical  scientists  have  unqualifiedly  confirmed  the 
Scriptural  doctrine,  to  wit :  that  all  things  proceed  from 
One  Eternal  Source.  Herbert  Spencer,  when  criticizing 
the  Positivists,  the  French  School  of  Secularists  who 
contended  that  "veneration  and  gratitude"  are  not 
due  to  God,  but  to  the  Great  Being  Humanity,  said : 
"  If  veneration  and  gratitude  are  due  at  all,  they  are  due 
to  that  ultimate  cause  from  which  humanity  as  a  whole, 
in  common  with  all  other  things,  has  proceeded.  .  .  . 
If  we  take  the  highest  product  of  evolution,  civilized 
human  society,  and  ask  to  what  agency  all  its  marvels 
must  be  credited,  the  inevitable  answer  is,  To  that 
unknown  cause  of  which  the  cosmos  is  a  manifestation." 

"All  things  proceed  from  One  Universal  Energy," 
said  Herbert  Spencer.  "I  can  see  nothing  at  last  in 
success  or  failure,"  said  Emerson,  "than  more  or  less 
of  vital  force  supplied  by  the  Eternal."  Alfred  Russel 
Wallace,  the  principal  coadjutor  of  the  late  Charles 
Darwin,  said: 

We  find  that  the  Darwinian  theory,  even  when  carried 
out  to  its  extreme  logical  conclusion,  not  only  does  not 
oppose,  but  lends  a  decided  support  to,  a  belief  in  the 


Paul  435 

Spiritual  nature  of  man.  It  shows  us  how  man's  body 
may  have  been  developed  from  that  of  the  lower  animals 
under  the  Law  of  natural  selection;  but  it  also  teaches  us 
that  we  possess  intellectual  and  moral  faculties  which  could 
not  have  been  so  developed,  but  must  have  another  origin, 
and  for  this  origin  we  can  find  an  adequate  cause  only  in 
the  unseen  universe  of  Spirit. 


All  truth  is  One;  Science  is  the  ally  of  religion;  the 
day  is  near  when  Psychology,  the  science  of  the  human 
soul,  will  be  called  the  first  science.  Religion  will  be 
taught  as  a  science  from  the  standpoint  of  Psychology ; 
and  Psychology  will  take  precedence  of  all  other  science 
because  of  its  immediate  and  direct  relation  to  religion 
itself.  When  all  the  great  colleges  and  institutions  of 
learning  in  the  world  teach  the  truth  concerning  human 
nature,  then  "everyone  having  knowledge  and  having 
understanding  "  (Neh.  10 128)  will  know  that  the  religion 
of  the  Jews  is  true  and  eternal ;  and  that  it  is  founded 
upon  the  nature  of  the  soul  itself.  Men  will  then 
know  that  there  is  a  Law  of  Human  Life.  "One  Law 
shall  be  to  him  that  is  homeborn,  and  to  the  stranger" 
(Ex.  12:49).  There  is  One  Law  alike  applicable  to 
the  Jew,  and  the  Gentile.  When  science  becomes  the 
faithful  handmaid  of  religion,  then  will  the  teachings  of 
Moses,  and  of  Elias,  and  of  Jesus  be  heralded  as  the 
truth  the  world  over,  then  will  men  seek  to  relate  their 
lives  to  the  primal  and  adequate  cause  of  all,  "the 
unseen  universe  of  Spirit,"  then  will  men  realize  the 
profound  significance  of  Jesus'  words:  "Seek  ye  first 
the  Kingdom  of  God." 

Spencer  has  told  us  that  "all  things  proceed  from 
One  Universal  Energy,"  and  Wallace  has  said  that  the 
intellectual  and  moral  nature  of  man  is  not  an  evolution 


436  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  his  animal  body,  but  that  this  high  and  godlike 
nature  "finds  an  adequate  cause  only  in  the  unseen 
universe  of  Spirit."  Things  outward,  things  carnal 
that  we  see  in  the  world  are  representative  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  Malice,  hate,  envy,  revenge,  lust, 
hypocrisy,  greed,  cruelty,  and  murder  are  animal 
traits ;  these  traits  still  adhere  in  the  souls  of  unregener- 
ate  men.  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world:  if  my 
kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants 
fight"  (John  18:36).  That  there  is  a  kingdom  tran- 
scending the  animal  kingdom  is  not  a  matter  of  specula- 
tion; all  the  virtuous  and  just  have  testified  that  there 
is  such  a  kingdom ;  and  with  them  it  is  not  a  matter  of 
conjecture,  but  of  knowledge. 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  the  mind  of  man,  the  son 
of  man,  must  be  lifted  up  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent 
in  the  wilderness,  if  man  would  escape  the  obsessions  of 
animalism,  and  would  be  related  to  the  kingdom  of 
life  and  peace.  "To  be  carnally  minded  is  death,  but 
to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace."  This  lifting 
of  man  out  of  a  state  of  carnality,  out  of  a  state  of 
animalism,  into  a  spiritual  state  of  consciousness  is  the 
resurrection  spoken  of  by  Paul.  "Why  should  it  be 
thought  a  thing  incredible  with  you,  that  God  should 
raise  the  dead?"  (Acts  26:  8).  "When  I  have  opened 
your  graves,  O  My  people  .  .  .  then  ye  shall  know  that 
I  the  Lord  have  spoken  it,  and  performed  it"  (Ezek. 
37: 13,  14).  All  honor  and  glory  to  God  for  it  is  His 
Spirit  and  Power  that  giveth  the  resurrection  and  the 
life;  it  is  the  Lord  God  Jehovah  that  leadeth  man  out 
of  Egypt.  "I  made  you  go  up  out  of  Egypt11  (Judges 
2:1).  This  is  the  reason  that  the  resurrected,  the 
elect  of  God,  in  all  ages  have  raised  their  voices  in 
prayer,  in  "veneration  and  gratitude"  to  the  One 


Paul 


437 


Almighty  God;  for  they  recognize  that  it  is  the  "Lord 
that  hath  spoken  it,  and  performed  it."  "All  things 
proceed  from  One  Eternal  Energy." 

"My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  if  my  kingdom 
were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight." 
The  Scriptures  teach  that  in  passing  from  the  plane  of 
the  animal  sensuous  world  to  the  Mental,  or  Moral 
plane  of  consciousness,  we  pass  at  once  from  the  phe- 
nomenal to  the  Real;  from  the  successive  to  the  Con- 
tinuous; from  the  many  to  the  One;  from  an  endless 
chain  of  mutual  dependence  to  an  Organizing,  Controll- 
ing, and  Self -Determining  Source  of  Power  and  Wisdom. 
The  cultivation  of  virtue,  the  prayers  of  men,  in  a  word, 
all  the  works  of  religion  are  intended  to  bring  man  into 
a  conscious  relation  to  the  Mental,  or  Moral  plane  of 
consciousness,  called  in  the  New  Testament  Scriptures 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

In  the  twenty-seventh  chapter  of  Acts  is  the  story 
of  the  shipwreck  of  Paul  and  others.  The  writer  of 
this  story  tells  how  they  were  overtaken  by  a  wind- 
storm coming  from  the  east,  called  Euroclydon.  It  is 
evidently  true  that  Paul  was  taken  from  Caesarea  in 
Palestine  to  the  City  of  Rome  as  is  here  described ;  and 
it  is  equally  true,  without  reference  to  who  wrote  the 
book  entitled  "The  Acts  of  the  Apostles,"  that  Paul 
was  entirely  familiar  with  the  ancient  story  of  the  human 
soul,  and  the  mode  and  manner  of  its  evolution.  Paul's 
eventful  journey  to  Rome  was  used  to  the  end  that  this 
story  might  be  preserved  in  the  book  of  the  "Acts  of  the 
Apostles."  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Paul  wrote 
this  chapter,  for  his  admitted  writings  and  the  experi- 
ence of  his  life  are  in  entire  harmony  with  it.  In  this 
chapter  is  a  veiled  description  of  the  tempest,  the 
Euroclydon,  that  every  human  soul  in  the  process  of  its 


438  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

evolution  is  destined  to  encounter;  the  story  of  Paul's 
experience  here  related,  and  what  he  says  in  his  several 
letters  proves  conclusively  that  Paul  was  an  adept  in 
religion,  that  he  taught  the  same  truths  concerning 
the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  Law  of  its 
evolution,  proclaimed  by  Moses,  and  that  he  was  a 
master  of  the  art  of  allegorical  composition. 

This  storm,  this  Euroclydon,  that  descended  upon 
Paul  and  all  aboard  the  ship  with  such  ceaseless  fury, 
came  from  the  east.  They  who  have  read  the  Scriptures 
thoughtfully  have  observed  this  singular  fact,  that 
what  is  weak,  or  inharmonious,  or  least  efficient,  or 
threatening,  is  often  represented  as  being  on  the  east 
side,  or  coming  from  the  east.  Cain,  when  he  had  done 
violence  to  his  brother  Abel,  "went  out  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod, 
on  the  east  of  Eden"  (Gen.  4:  16).  This  is  evidently 
a  figure  of  speech  showing  that  Cain,  like  all  the  wicked, 
is  in  a  state  of  inharmony.  Eden,  it  would  seem,  is 
but  another  name  for  wisdom,  and  Nod  indicates  in- 
harmony; therefore,  they  that  live  in  the  land  of  Nod 
have  gone  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord.  They 
who  attempted  to  build  the  tower  of  Babel,  they  who 
brought  their  bricks  and  stone  and  slime,  their  false 
opinions  and  conceits,  and  attempted  to  find  Heaven 
by  a  process  of  speculation,  they  who  have  filled  the 
world  with  their  animalized  conceits,  contentions,  and 
with  death,  "journeyed  from  the  east"  (Gen.  11:2). 
When  God  disciplined  Jonah,  and  compelled  him  to  go 
to  Nineveh  against  his  will,  and  when  Jonah  insisted 
that  it  is  better  to  be  dead  than  alive,  it  is  written 
that  he  went  out,  and  "sat  on  the  east  side  of  the  city" 
Qonah  4:5). 

The  door  of  the  tabernacle  was  towards  the  east, 


Paul 


439 


and  a  short  way  westward  from  this  door  was  the  altar, 
where  the  blood  of  the  sacrificed  animals  was  poured  out, 
and  a  short  distance  west  of  the  altar  was  the  Holy 
Place,  and  still  more  westward  and  inward  was  the 
Holy  of  Holies.  The  blood  is  the  life  of  the  flesh;  the 
pouring  out  of  blood  at  the  altar  is  a  symbol  descriptive 
of  the  sacrifices  of  the  animal  nature  of  man.  The 
animals  were  led  to  the  altar  from  the  east;  and  they 
represent  those  vestiges  of  animalism  within  the 
soul  of  man  which  are  destined  to  destruction:  "For 
we  shall  sacrifice  the  abomination  of  the  Egyptians," 
said  Moses  (Ex.  8:26).  Those  animal  traits  which 
sensuous  men  love  and  adore  Israel  sacrificed.  The 
question  may  be  asked,  Is  there  any  process  in  nature 
which  suggests  that  the  least  perfect,  the  least  in  power 
is  in  the  east,  and  the  more  perfect  toward  the  west? 
The  east  is  the  first  of  the  cardinal  points  of  the  horizon. 
It  is  there  that  the  sun  is  seen  to  rise;  and  the  heat 
and  light  increase  as  the  sun  approaches  the  meridian. 
It  would  therefore  seem  that  the  Scriptures  in  their 
every  essential  detail  are  attuned  to  the  processes  of 
nature. 

It  is  written  that  this  dreadful  east  wind,  called 
Euroclydon,  bore  down  upon  the  ship,  and  that  she 
was  unable  to  stand  against  it,  and  "we  let  her  drive," 
but  after  "much  work"  a  haven  was  reached;  and  the 
ship  was  undergirded  lest  those  on  board  should  fall 
into  the  quicksands.  When  undergirded  the  ship 
again  breasts  the  storm;  the  Scriptures  teach  that  man 
must  gird  his  loins,  if  he  would  escape  the  sensuous 
life  of  Egypt.  The  Israelites  were  commanded  of 
Moses  to  eat  the  "Lord's  passover,"  their  last  repast 
in  Egypt,  with  their  loins  girded,  their  shoes  on  their 
feet,  and  with  staff  in  hand  (Ex.  12: 11).  The  staff 


44°  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

is  a  symbol  of  right  reason.  When  the  loins  are  girded 
reason  is  in  the  ascendancy;  reason  governs.  The 
storm  continues  to  beat  upon  the  ship.  The  second  day, 
"they  lightened  the  ship;  and  the  third  day  we  cast 
out  with  our  own  hands  the  tackling  of  the  ship." 
The  darkest  days  are  come ;  the  storm  bears  down  upon 
the  ship  with  an  appalling  fury.  "All  hope  that  we 
should  be  saved  was  then  taken  away"  (Acts  27: 18- 

20). 

Every  human  soul  is  destined  to  be  driven  before 
an  east  wind;  it  is  destined  to  undergo  great  trials  and 
temptations;  but  if  it  be  faithful  to  its  high  destiny, 
and  do  "much  work,"  it  will  find  a  haven  where  it 
can  gird  itself,  and  make  ready  for  the  "coming  of  the 
great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord."  The  third  day 
is  the  day  of  the  resurrection;  on  this  day  the  tempest 
redoubles  its  fury ;  on  this  day  "the  tackling  of  the  ship " 
is  cast  overboard;  and  "neither  sun  nor  stars  appear 
through  many  days."  This  mysterious  chapter  in  its 
outward  sense  is  the  history  of  Paul's  eventful  journey 
by  sea  to  the  City  of  Rome,  but  in  its  depths  it  is  the 
story  of  the  human  soul,  and  of  every  human  soul. 

Perhaps  a  brief  review  of  the  life  of  Moses  will  aid 
us  in  understanding  the  singular  language  of  the 
chapter  before  us.  According  to  the  symbolism  of  the 
Scriptures,  man's  sojourn  on  earth  is  often  spoken  of  as 
three  days ;  and  the  last  day  of  the  three  completes  his 
education.  "Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures 
to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  per- 
fected" (Luke  13:  32).  The  first  day  of  Moses'  life  is 
represented  in  the  forty  years  that  he  resided  in  Egypt ; 
the  second  day  represents  his  forty  years  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  in  this  day  he  "lightened  the  ship, "  he  girded 
himself,  he  prepared  himself  for  the  "coming  of  the 


Paul 


441 


great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord";  and  the  third  day 
begins  with  his  experience  at  Horeb,  he  is  then  resur- 
rected from  the  dead,  he  is  then  commissioned  the 
savior  of  his  people,  he  is  then  to  bear  the  sins  of  his 
people. 

It  is  at  Horeb  that  he  bids  adieu  forever  to  the 
luxurious  and  sensuous  life  of  Egypt;  it  is  at  Horeb 
that  he  becomes  conscious  of  the  Kingdom  of  God; 
it  is  at  Horeb  that  he  casts  overboard  every  hindrance 
to  a  holy  and  righteous  work.  He  who  would  lead 
others  to  Sinai  must  first  be  free  himself.  The  third 
day  of  Moses'  life  was  to  him  "the  great  and  dreadful 
day  of  the  Lord";  and  during  this  forty  years,  there 
were  times  "when  neither  sun  nor  stars  appeared  for 
many  days"  and  all  hope  that  he  should  save  his  people 
was  then  taken  away.  There  were  times  when  the  soul 
of  this  great  and  godlike  man  was  tried  to  its  very 
depths.  "And  Moses  said  unto  the  Lord,  Wherefore 
hast  thou  afflicted  thy  servant?  and  wherefore  have  I 
not  found  favor  in  thy  sight,  that  thou  layest  the  burden 
of  all  this  people  upon  me?  Have  I  conceived  all  this 
people?  have  I 'begotten  them,  that  thou  shouldstsay 
unto  me,  Carry  them  in  thy  bosom,  as  a  nursing  father 
beareth  a  sucking  child,  unto  the  land  which  thou 
swearest  to  give  unto  their  fathers?"  (Num.  11:11, 
12;  21:5;  Ps.  95:8-10). 

"And  it  is  appointed  unto  man  once  to  die  [to  the 
world,  to  cast  the  tackling  of  the  ship  overboard],  but 
after  this  the  judgment "  (Heb.  9 :  27) .  The  third  day  of 
Moses'  life,  the  last  forty  years  of  his  life  on  earth,  was 
his  day  of  judgment.  The  third  day  is  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, the  crisis,  the  harvest  time  when  the  last  of  the 
tares  are  separated  from  the  wheat,  and  burned.  The 
tares  are  the  animal  traits  that  inhere  in  the  soul  of 


44s  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

unregenerate  man;  they  are  "  the  children  of  the  wicked 
one, "  and  when  the  human  soul  is  freed  from  the  ves- 
tiges of  animalism,  it  has  attained  to  "the  end  of  the 
world"  (Matt.  13:38,  39).  Man  would  he  attain  to 
the  end  of  the  world  must  "put  away  sin  by  the  sacri- 
fice of  himself"  (Heb.  9:26);  he  must  "bear  the  sins 
of  many."  On  the  "third  day  the  tackling  of  the 
ship"  is  cast  overboard.  How  cheap  the  things  of  the 
world  become,  how  cheap  the  animalized  world  appears, 
when  man  is  resurrected  from  the  dead,  and  is  con- 
sciously related  to  the  spiritual  kingdom,  the  kingdom 
"of  the  living"  (Mark  12:27),  tne  kingdom  of  the 
purely  human,  the  kingdom  of  the  just,  the  kingdom 
wherein  the  elect  are  led  and  taught  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  are  the  organs  of  It. 

Paul  speaks  of  those  "that  obey  not  the  Gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  (2  Thess.  i:  8).  What  is  the 
Gospel?  The  Gospel,  the  name  given  to  the  New 
Testament  Scriptures,  is  derived  from  the  Greek  word 
Evangel,  and  means:  Good  tidings  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  to  all  people.  It  is  good  to  know,  it  is  of  the 
first  importance  to  know,  that  there  is  a  kingdom  that 
transcends  the  animal,  where  the  souls  of  men  are 
free,  and  just,  and  where  there  is  unity,  harmony  and 
peace,  and  where  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man  are  realized.  Paul,  like  Moses,  and 
Elijah,  and  Jesus,  and  all  the  elect  of  God,  is  a  messenger 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  He  brings  good  tidings  to  those 
aboard  the  foundering  ship;  he  tells  them  that  every 
one  shall  be  saved.  "Wherefore,  sirs,  be  of  good  cheer: 
for  I  believe  God,  that  it  shall  be  even  as  it  was  told 
to  me"  (Acts  27:25).  The  Kingdom  of  God  tran- 
scends the  animal  kingdom  of  this  world.  "If  my 
kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants 


Paul 


443 


fight."  Man  becomes  human  and  divine  to  the 
extent  that  he  escapes  from  the  animal  kingdom  of 
the  world,  and  is  related  to  the  spiritual  kingdom,  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  The  end  and  aim  of  religion  is  to 
bring  man  into  a  conscious  relation  to  this  high  and 
holy  kingdom. 

It  is  written,  that  when  Paul  had  arrived  in  Rome 
after  his  eventful  voyage  that  he  put  his  case  before 
the  chief  of  the  Jews.  "And  it  came  to  pass,  that  after 
three  days  Paul  called  the  chief  of  the  Jews  together:  and 
when  they  were  come  together,  he  said  unto  them,  Men 
and  brethren,  though  I  have  committed  nothing  against 
the  people,  or  the  customs  of  our  fathers,  yet  was  I  de- 
livered a  prisoner  .  .  .  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans" 
(Acts  28:  17).  Notice  this  singular  language:  "after 
three  days  Paul  called  the  chief  of  the  Jews  together"; 
this  expression  is  evidently  used  advisedly;  and  it 
means  that  he  called  together  those  who  had  knowledge 
of  the  resurrection  on  the  third  day.  This  voyage  to 
Rome  is  said  to  have  been  near  the  end  of  Paul's  life 
on  earth.  He  now  tells  his  brethren,  "the  chief  of  the 
Jews,"  that  he  has  done  nothing  against  the  "customs 
of  our  fathers."  In  a  word,  he  says  that  he  has  done 
nothing  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  elect  of  Israel. 
A  day  is  appointed  when  he  is  to  address  the  people  of 
Rome.  "There  came  many  into  his  lodging;  to  whom 
he  expounded  and  testified  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
persuading  them  concerning  Jesus,  both  out  of  the  Law 
of  Moses,  and  out  of  the  prophets,  from  morning  to 
evening"  (Acts  28:  23). 

Paul  testifies  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  He  persuades 
the  people  concerning  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  both  out  of 
the  Law  of  Moses,  and  out  of  the  prophets.  Thus  it  is 
seen  that  Paul  pointed  to  the  life  of  Jesus  as  an  illustra- 


444  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

tion  of  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law.  "All  things  must  be 
fulfilled,  which  were  written  in  the  Law  of  Moses,  and 
the  prophets,  and  in  the  psalms,  concerning  me"  (Luke 
24:44).  Moses  wrote  the  story  of  the  human  soul; 
therefore,  he  wrote  concerning  you,  and  "concerning 
me."  They  who  believe  in  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
and  who  try  to  live  worthy  of  It  are  not  under  the 
Law;  they  are  said  to  have  passed  beyond  the  obser- 
vance of  the  precepts  of  the  Law;  they  are  those  who 
are  seeking  to  have  the  Law  of  God  written  in  their 
hearts.  "Do  we  make  void  the  Law  through  faith? 
God  forbid:  yea,  we  establish  the  Law"  (Rom.  3:31). 
He  who  believes  in  his  heart  that  the  Kingdom  of 
God  is  an  existing  fact,  and  lives  worthy  of  it,  is  said 
to  have  the  Law  of  God  established  in  his  heart.  When 
man  sincerely  believes  that  God  is,  and  wills  to  live  a 
virtuous  and  just  life,  then  it  is  said  that  the  Law  of 
God  is  established  in  his  heart.  "Then  said  he,  Lo,  I 
come  to  do  Thy  will,  O  God.  He  taketh  away  the 
first  [the  precepts  of  the  Law],  that  He  may  establish 
the  second"  [the  Law  within  the  heart]  (Heb.  10:9; 
Ps.  40:7,  8). 

Paul,  like  all  the  wise  of  Israel,  taught  the  Law 
of  Human  Life ;  he  knew  that  the  Law  points  the  way ; 
that  the  precepts  of  the  Law  are  an  essential  and  in- 
dispensable part  of  human  knowledge.  According  to 
the  teachings  of  Paul,  the  ten  commandments  recorded 
in  the  Pentateuch  should  be  as  faithfully  obeyed 
to-day  as  in  the  palmy  days  of  Israel.  Righteousness 
is  righteousness  because  it  is  natural;  "evil  is  evil 
because  it  is  unnatural."  The  precepts  of  the  Law 
inhibit  the  unnatural;  they  inhibit  the  exercise  of 
animal  traits;  and  they  command  the  exercise  of  the 
graces  that  are  human:  wisdom,  courage,  temperance, 


Paul 


445 


and  justice.  They  inhibit  the  sensual,  the  animal, 
and  command  obedience  to  reason.  Truth  is  revealed 
in  the  moral  order  of  the  universe.  Truth  is  not  the 
creation  of  man;  it  exists,  and  has  forever  existed; 
and  when  the  soul  of  man  is  related  to  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  it  is  the  organ  of  truth;  it  is  through  the  lives 
of  the  virtuous  that  the  grace  and  the  power  and  the 
glory  of  God  are  made  manifest.  "For  the  life  was 
manifested,  and  we  have  seen  it,  and  bear  witness, 
and  show  unto  you  that  eternal  life,  which  was  with  the 
Father,  and  was  manifested  unto  us"  (i  John  1:2). 

Joseph  Cook,  of  Boston,  in  one  of  his  Monday  lectures 
(winter  of  1876-77),  said:  "The  universe  must  have 
conditions  of  salvation  in  it  if  it  is  made  on  a  plan. 
Religious  Science  springs  out  of  the  universality  of 
Law.  If  there  is  a  soul,  and  the  soul  is  made  on  a 
plan,  if  there  is  a  God  who  is  all  order  and  holiness,  then 
it  is  incontrovertible  that  there  are  natural  conditions 
of  salvation."  This  is  precisely  what  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures teach.  "Sin  is  not  imputed  where  there  is  no 
Law"  (Rom.  5: 13).  Sin  is  sin  because  it  is  an  offend- 
ing against  God,  against  the  moral  order.  The  pre- 
cepts of  the  Law  tell  us  what  sin  is ;  they  tell  us  what  it 
is  that  constitutes  a  violation  of  the  divine  order. 
"For  I  was  alive  once:  but  when  the  commandment 
came,  sin  revived,  and  I  died"  (Rom.  7:9).  A  simple 
rendering  of  this  would  be :  I  once  believed  that  I  was 
alive  to  God,  and  the  truth,  but  when  I  came  to  under- 
stand the  Law,  I  discovered  that  I  was  sinful  and  in 
a  state  of  death. 

"The  Law  [the  precepts]  made  nothing  perfect" 
(Heb.  7:  19).  When  the  precepts  are  mastered,  then 
the  dream  of  salvation  is  transferred  from  without  to 
within  the  human  soul  itself.  Paul,  like  all  the  elect 


446  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  Israel,  knew  that  precepts:  inhibitions,  restraints, 
and  commands  from  without  can  never  make  the  soul 
of  man  perfect;  that  perfection  can  only  come  of  a 
righteous  self-direction  from  within  the  soul;  that  the 
soul,  if  it  would  be  perfect,  must  conform  to  the  inner 
Law  that  determines  its  perfection.  The  habitual 
speaking  of  the  truth  is  a  high  and  godlike  virtue,  and 
it  is  an  inward,  natural,  orderly,  and  human  function 
of  the  soul.  "He  that  doeth  the  truth  cometh  to  the 
Light"  (John  3:21).  He  that  is  faithful  to  truth 
attains  to  wisdom.  "When  the  habit  of  speaking  the 
truth  is  neglected,  the  capacity  of  perceiving  it  is  gradu- 
ally lost."  The  heart  is  the  life  center  within  the  soul; 
it  is  the  seat  of  courage,  and  of  valor;  it  is  the  Holy 
Spirit  that  reveals  the  truth  to  man.  The  Spirit  only 
communicates  the  truth  to  those  who  have  the  courage 
to  assert  it,  and  even  to  die  for  it.  The  liar  is  more 
animal  than  human;  with  the  ascent  of  the  human 
comes  the  ascendancy  of  truth.  People  do  not  know 
the  truth  because  they  do  not  live  worthy  of  it;  they 
are  not  willing  to  suffer  for  it;  they  do  not  know  it 
because  they  love  and  live  the  sensuous  life;  because 
they  compromise  themselves  with  evil.  A  virtuous 
and  upright  soul  is  the  organ  of  truth.  "To  this 
end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world, 
that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth."  The  soul 
of  man  must  be  virtuous  and  upright,  if  it  would  be  an 
organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  a  witness  unto  the  truth. 
R.  J.  Campbell,  Minister  of  the  City  Temple,  Lon- 
don, in  his  book,  The  New  Theology,  says :  "The  soul  is 
what  we  make  it;  the  Spirit  we  can  neither  make  nor 
mar,  for  it  is  at  once  our  Being  and  God's.  What  we 
are  here  to  do  is  to  grow  the  soul,  that  is  to  manifest 
the  true  nature  of  the  Spirit."  The  soul  has  its  Law; 


Paul 


447 


and  the  precepts  of  the  Law  are  but  means  to  an  end; 
and  their  office  is  to  lead  man  Until  reason,  the  mascu- 
line principle  of  the  soul,  at  the  summit  of  the  temple, 
assumes  his  righteous  function.  When  reason  attains 
to  his  own,  then  is  the  soul  governed  from  within,  and 
not  from  without.  Precepts  are  for  those  who  are 
incapable  of  righteous  action  because  of  their  inward 
deformity ;  but  when  reason  compels  the  soul  to  virtue, 
and  maintains  his  righteous  supremacy,  then  is  man 
freed  from  the  precepts  of  the  Law,  then  is  the  soul 
true  to  its  high  destiny,  then  is  the  soul  on  its  way  to  a 
conscious  unity  with  God. 

"If  ye  are  led  of  the  Spirit,  ye  are  not  under  [the 
precepts  of]  the  Law"  (Gal.  5:  18).  Christ,  or  right 
reason,  subjects  man  to  a  severe  discipline.  "We  suffer 
with  him,  that  we  may  reign  with  him."  The  conceited, 
the  animalized,  the  unreasoning,  the  selfish  expect  the 
joys  of  Heaven  to  descend  upon  them;  they  do  not 
know  that  the  building  of  character  is  personal  and 
psychological;  they  do  not  know  that  reason  is  given 
to  the  end  that  man  may  be  a  co-worker  with  God  in 
making  perfect  his  soul.  The  first  duty  of  every  man 
is  the  making  perfect  of  his  own  soul.  "Now  look 
to  thine  own  house,  thou  son  of  David."  The  kingdom 
of  harmony  and  of  peace,  the  Kingdom  of  God  when 
found  is  within  the  human  soul  itself ;  and  this  kingdom 
is  only  found  of  him  who  has  worked  incessantly  to 
attune  his  soul  to  wisdom,  truth,  and  justice.  When 
reason  attains  to  his  own,  then  the  precepts  of  the 
Law,  the  outward  forms  of  religion  are  no  longer  re- 
quired ;  for  man  is  then  governed  from  within  his  soul 
and  not  by  inhibitions  and  commands  from  without. 
"Mine  ears  hast  thou  opened:  burnt  offering  and  sin 
offering  hast  thou  not  required"  (Ps.  40:6;  Heb. 


448  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

10:4-8).  Religion  does  not  consist  in  dogma,  or  in 
outward  observances,  but  in  personal  goodness,  in 
perfection  of  life;  all  else  are  but  means  to  an  end. 

"The  Law  is  not  of  faith:  but  the  man  thatdoeth 
them  [the  precepts]  shall  live  in  them ;  but  it  is  evident, 
that  no  man  is  justified  by  the  Law  in  the  sight  of  God: 
for,  The  Just  shall  live  by  faith"  (Gal.  3:  n;  Rom. 
1:17;  Heb.  10: 38).  Who  are  the  just?  Who  are  they 
that  "live  by  faith?"  Paul  evidently  used  the  word 
"just"  in  the  sense  that  all  the  wise  have  used  it; 
for  in  his  letter  to  the  Romans  (i :  19)  he  said:  "That 
which  may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest  in  them 
[the  just];  for  God  hath  showed  it  unto  them."  Plato 
tells  us  that  the  virtue  of  reason  is  Wisdom,  and  that 
this  virtue  has  its  seat  in  the  head,  and  is  the  governing 
and  measuring  virtue ;  that  Valor  is  the  virtue  of  the 
heart,  that  the  affections  of  a  pure  heart  are  the  faithful 
allies  of  reason;  that  Temperance  is  the  virtue  of  the 
lower  principle  of  the  soul.  When  the  lower  principle 
is  girded  and  obedient  to  reason,  then  is  man  temperate. 
Justice  is  that  virtue  that  represents  all  of  the  principles 
of  the  soul  in  perfect  harmony  and  balance.  The 
perfection  of  the  soul,  the  harmony  of  the  soul,  its 
humanization,  is  summed  up  in  the  word  Justice. 
Perhaps  it  was  St.  Clement  of  Alexandria  who  spoke  of 
the  faith  of  knowledge  as  distinguished  from  the  faith 
of  conjecture.  When  the  soul  is  just  and  upright,  it 
attains  to  the  faith  of  knowledge. 

Then  faith,  it  would  seem,  is  what  the  Rev.  George 
Putnam,  late  of  Roxbury,  Mass.,  says  it  is:  "Faith 
can  be  nothing  less  than  that  state  of  the  soul  which 
generates  personal  goodness,  that  inner  fountain  of 
spiritual  life  which  is  called  the  gift  or  inspiration  of 
God's  Spirit,  and  out  of  which  proceed  holy  desires, 


Paul 


449 


just  purposes,  loving  affections,  piety,  meekness, 
patience,  truthfulness,  all  noble  actions,  all  beautiful 
living."  Faith  and  justice  are  represented  in  the  soul's 
perfection.  It  is,  therefore,  inconceivable  that  man 
should  be  just  in  the  Scriptural  and  Platonic  sense,  and 
not  be  possessed  of  the  faith  of  knowledge,  or  that  man 
should  be  possessed  of  the  faith  of  knowledge  and  not 
be  just.  They  who  do  not  believe  in  God  are  unjust; 
their  souls  are  in  a  state  of  deformity.  Their  souls 
are  not  upright  (Habak.  2:4).  The  word  "upright" 
is  often  used  like  the  word  "just"  to  describe  the  soul's 
perfection.  "I  will  praise  the  Lord  with  my  whole 
heart  in  the  assembly  of  the  upright"  (Ps.  111:1; 
19:13).  God  reveals  Himself  to  the  just,  to  the 
upright.  "If  thou  wert  pure  and  upright;  surely  now 
He  would  awake  for  thee"  (Job.  8:6). 

Paul  tells  us  again  and  again  that  the  precepts 
of  the  Law:  inhibitions  and  commands  from  without, 
can  never  make  the  soul  of  man  perfect ;  that  perfection 
can  only  come  of  a  righteous  self-direction  from  within 
the  soul  itself.  Reason  is  the  governing  principle  of  the 
soul.  When  reason  sits  composedly  at  the  summit 
of  the  temple,  and  refuses  to  be  tempted  or  debauched 
of  Satan,  and  girds  and  commands  Satan,  then  is  man 
governed  from  within,  then  is  man  the  master  of  himself, 
then  is  the  son  of  man  lifted  up,  then  is  man  acting 
in  obedience  to  the  Will  of  God,  then  is  man  true  to  the 
one  living  Law  that  inheres  in  his  soul,  then  is  man  led 
"by  a  new  and  living  way"  (Heb.  10: 20),  then  is  man 
in  the  strait  and  narrow  way,  "which  leadeth  unto  life." 
Paul,  like  all  the  great  of  Israel,  found  inexpressible 
delight  in  the  inner  Law,  the  law  of  the  mind,  that 
ministers  to  the  soul's  perfection.  "I  delight  in  the 
Law  of  God  after  the  inward  man"  (Rom.  7: 22-25). 
39 


45°  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Several  passages  of  Scripture,  attributed  to  Paul, 
have  been  construed  as  announcing  doctrine  unfriendly 
to  women.  It  is  often  said  that  Paul  spoke  disparag- 
ingly of  women  preaching,  and  of  their  performing 
religious  functions  in  public  meetings.  When  the 
Scriptures  in  question  are  viewed  from  a  psychological 
standpoint,  it  will  be  seen  that  this  criticism  is  entirely 
erroneous;  that  Paul  made  no  discrimination  invidious 
to  women. 

"I  suffer  not  a  woman  to  teach,  nor  to  usurp  author- 
ity over  the  man,  but  to  be  in  silence.  For  Adam  was 
first  formed,  then  Eve.  And  Adam  was  not  deceived, 
but  the  woman  being  deceived  was  in  the  transgres- 
sion" (i  Tim.  2: 11-14).  This  language  is  not  to  be 
taken  literally.  For  it  is  entirely  evident  that  Paul 
did  suffer  women  to  teach.  This  is  the  story  of  the 
human  soul.  Adam  is  the  representative  of  mind, 
manas,  man;  and  Eve,  of  the  heart  and  the  affections; 
the  mind  is  masculine,  the  heart  is  feminine.  "I 
suffer  not  the  woman  to  usurp  authority  over  the  man." 
Reason  is  entitled  to  govern.  Suffer  not  the  emotions, 
the  feelings,  and  the  affections  to  usurp  the  office  of 
reason.  In  the  order  of  nature,  the  feelings,  the 
affections  are  the  first  to  be  deceived,  the  first  to  trans- 
gress. When  the  affections  are  unfaithful  to  reason, 
then  is  Adam  imperiled,  then  is  Adam  tempted  to 
throw  himself  down  from  the  summit  of  the  temple. 

" Man  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God;  but  the  woman 
is  the  glory  of  the  man.  Neither  was  the  man  created 
for  the  woman ;  but  the  woman  for  the  man.  .  .  Neither 
is  the  man  without  the  woman,  neither  is  the  woman 
without  the  man,  in  the  Lord"  (i  Cor.  11:7-11). 
This  strange  language  we  would  interpret  as  follows: 
A  holy  and  chaste  mind  is  the  image  and  glory  of 


Paul 


45i 


God,  but  a  pure  and  virtuous  heart  is  the  glory  of  the 
man.  Neither  was  man  created  to  be  governed  of 
his  emotions  and  feelings,  but  they  were  created  to  be 
governed  of  man.  Neither  is  a  holy  mind  without  a 
pure  heart,  neither  is  a  virtuous  heart  without  a  just 
mind,  before  God. 

Paul's  profound  observations  concerning  the  nature 
of  the  human  soul  recalls  the  words  of  a  famous  English 
divine,  the  late  Frederick  W.  Robertson  of  Brighton. 
"Every  great  poet  is  a  'double-natured  man';  with  the 
feminine  and  manly  powers  in  harmonious  balance; 
having  the  tact,  and  the  sympathy,  and  the  intuition, 
and  tenderness  of  woman,  with  the  breadth  and  massive- 
ness  of  the  manly  intellect,  besides  the  calm  justice 
which  is  almost  exclusively  masculine." 

The  Society  of  Friends,  commonly  called  Quakers, 
has  always  insisted  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  writings 
of  Paul  that  inhibits  women  from  participation  in  all 
the  offices  of  religion  in  common  with  men.  George 
Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  laid  it 
down  unqualifiedly  that  men  and  women  are  alike 
entitled  and  obligated  to  teach  religion.  Fox  affirmed 
that  the  true  teacher  of  every  man  is  the  Spirit  of  God 
within  his  soul;  and  that  if  man  will  be  faithful  to  the 
light  that  God  gives  him,  he  can  attain  to  perfection, 
in  a  word,  that  God  aids  His  own  to  make  the  ascent 
of  the  Spiritual  mountain.  Fox  in  his  autobiography 
said: 

For  this  thing  [hiring  ministers]  has  spoiled  many  by 
hindering  them  from  improving  their  own  minds;  whereas 
our  labor  is  to  bring  every  one  to  his  own  teacher  in  himself. 
.  .  .  Women  .  .  .  being  partakers  of  the  same  precious 
Faith,  and  heirs  of  the  same  everlasting  gospel  of  life  and 
salvation  with  men,  might  in  like  manner  come  into  the 


452  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

possession  and  practice  of  the  same  gospel  order.  ...  So 
all  the  family  of  God,  women  as  well  as  men,  might  know, 
possess,  perform,  and  discharge  their  offices  and  services 
in  the  House  of  God,  that  the  poor  might  be  better  taken 
care  of,  the  young  instructed,  informed,  and  taught  in  the 
way  of  God;  and  the  loose  and  disorderly  reproved  and 
admonished  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord. 

Dr.  Thomas  Arnold,  of  Rugby,  England,  though  he 
died  at  the  age  of  forty-seven,  in  1842,  proved  himself 
to  be  a  man  of  real  virtue  and  power;  and  like  all  such, 
it  is  said  that  he  turned  many  to  righteousness.  James 
Martineau,  when  commenting  on  his  simple  and  ex- 
emplary life,  said:  "Arnold  has  lived  and  shown  how 
nobleness  and  strength  may  maintain  itself  in  an  age  of 
falsehood,  negligence  and  pretense.  .  .  .  His  under- 
standing was  too  robust,  and  his  moral  affections  too 
decided,  to  be  turned  from  their  natural  direction  by 
any  external  agency."  "It  gives  me  no  pain  and  no 
scruple  whatever,"  said  Dr.  Arnold,  "to  differ  from 
those  whom  I  cannot  find  to  be  worthy  of  admiration. 
Nor  does  their  number  affect  me."  Martineau,  in  his 
essay  on  Arnold,  quotes  the  famous  words  of  Milton: 

Abdiel,  faithful  found 
Among  the  faithless,  faithful  only  he 
Among  innumerable  false,  unmoved, 
Unshaken,  unsubdued,  un terrified. 

What  was  it  that  made  Arnold  a  member  of  the 
royal  race?  What  was  it  that  distinguished  him  from 
the  great  mass  of  mankind  among  whom  he  lived? 
What  was  it  that  made  his  life  so  simple,  so  noble,  so 
strong,  and  so  memorable?  It  was  the  living  of  a  life 
faithful  to  the  highest  within  the  soul  itself.  This  is 


Paul  453 

the  secret  of  human  greatness.  Nothing  is  comparable 
to  a  noble  self-direction  from  within.  This  idea  was 
well  phrased  by  Dr.  Arnold  himself : 

The  needle  may  point  due  south  if  you  hold  a  powerful 
magnet  in  that  direction.  Still,  the  compass,  generally 
speaking,  is  a  true  and  sure  guide,  and  so  is  the  conscience; 
and  you  can  trace  the  deranging  influence  on  the  latter 
quite  as  surely  as  on  the  former.  Again,  there  is  confusion 
in  some  men's  minds,  who  say  that,  if  we  so  exalt  conscience, 
we  make  ourselves  the  paramount  judges  of  all  things,  and 
so  do  not  live  by  faith  and  obedience.  But  he  who  believes 
his  conscience  to  be  God's  Law,  by  obeying  It  obeys  God. 
.  .  .  And  as  for  Faith,  there  is  again  a  confusion  in  the  use 
of  the  term.  It  is  not  Scriptural,  but  fanatical,  to  oppose 
faith  to  reason.  Faith  is  properly  opposed  to  sense,  and  is 
the  listening  to  the  dictates  of  the  higher  part  of  the  mind, 
to  which  God  alone  speaks,  rather  than  to  the  lower  part  of 
us,  to  which  the  world  speaks. 

Paul  did  not  believe  that  a  religious  meeting  should 
be  made  the  occasion  of  asking  questions,  and  of  dispu- 
tation and  debate  (2  Cor.  12:19,  20.)  The  object  of  a 
religious  meeting  is  the  worship  of  God,  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  spirit  of  brotherhood.  "We  do  all  things, 
dearly  beloved,  for  your  edifying,"  for  your  moral 
uplift.  Paul,  therefore,  advised  the  women  to  forego 
the  asking  of  questions  in  public  meetings  (i  Cor. 
14:34).  He  cautions  Timothy  not  to  "give  heed  to 
fables  and  endless  genealogies,  which  minister  questions, 
rather  than  edifying"  (i  Tim.  1:4);  "foolish  and  un- 
learned questions  avoid,  knowing  that  they  do  gender 
strifes"  (2  Tim.  2:23).  Paul  gives  the  same  advice 
to  Titus  (3:9),  that  he  gave  to  Timothy.  In  his  letter 
to  the  Philippians  (4:  3)  he  requests  help  for  the  women 


454  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

who  had  been  co-laborers  with  him.  "Help  those 
women  which  labored  with  me  in  the  gospel."  Paul 
was  accompanied  for  a  time  by  Priscilla  and  Aquila 
who  were  the  religious  teachers  of  the  eloquent  Apollos 
(Acts  18:  18,  24,  26).  Miriam,  and  Deborah,  and 
Huldah  are  some  of  the  women  who  taught  and  proph- 
esied in  the  ancient  days  of  Israel;  and  it  would 
seem  that  there  were  women  of  like  character  in  the 
days  of  Paul;  and  that  he  approved  and  complimented 
them  as  co-laborers  in  the  work  of  spreading  the  gospel. 
Paul  lodged  for  a  time  at  the  house  of  Philip  who  had 
four  daughters  "which  did  prophesy"  (Acts  21:9). 
Paul  speaks  kindly  of  Phoebe,  "our  sister,"  a  deaconess 
in  a  church  in  Corinth ;  and  in  like  terms  of  other  women 
whom  he  denominates  "those  women  which  labored 
with  me  in  the  gospel."  (Rom  16:1-3,  12;  Phil. 
4:2,  3).  The  religion  of  Israel  is  addressed  to  "every 
one  having  knowledge  and  having  understanding" 
(Neh.  10:28;  8:2;  Deut.  31:11,  12).  Paul,  like  all 
the  wise,  recognized  that  fitness  to  perform  the  offices 
of  religion  is  not  determined  by  sex,  but  by  qualifica- 
tion, by  character.  They  alone  are  fit  to  teach  the 
religion  of  Israel  who  know  its  doctrine,  and  live 
worthy  of  it.  What  is  great  in  religion  is  revealed  not 
in  argumentation,  nor  in  speculation,  but  by  actual 
demonstrations  of  power  (Mark  16:20;  Acts  5:12; 
I  Cor.  2:4). 

"For  other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is 
laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ.  .  .  .  Know  ye  not  that  ye 
are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
dwelleth  in  you?  If  any  man  defile  the  temple  of  God, 
him  shall  God  destroy;  for  the  temple  of  God  is  holy, 
which  temple  ye  are"  (i  Cor.  3:11,  16).  Paul  is  here 
re-stating  the  ancient  idea  so  elaborately  presented 


Paul 


455 


in  the  teachings  of  Moses;  and  demonstrated  in  the  life 
of  Jesus,  to  wit:  that  the  soul  and  body  of  man  is  a 
temple  wherein  dwelleth  the  Spirit  of  God;  and  that  the 
making  perfect  of  this  temple  is  the  true  work  of  man. 
"The  Lord  is  my  strength;  and  He  is  my  salvation;  He 
is  my  God,  and  I  will  prepare  Him  an  habitation" 
(Ex.  15:2).  "We  are  labourers  together  with  God" 
(i  Cor.  3:9).  Jesus  drove  the  animals,  the  money 
changers,  and  the  sellers  of  doves  out  of  the  temple; 
Jesus  freed  the  temple  from  all  that  is  animal.  "He 
spake  of  the  temple  of  his  body"  (John  2:21).  All 
evil  in  man  is  chargeable  to  his  animal  nature ;  therefore, 
the  sins  of  mankind  are  laid  upon  the  head  of  the 
goat.  He  who  desecrates  and  denies  his  soul  and  body, 
the  temple  of  God,  he  who  persists  in  living  the  sensuous 
life,  "him  shall  God  destroy."  Paul  says  unqualifiedly 
that  there  is  "no  other  foundation"  for  human  perfec- 
tion than  that  demonstrated  in  the  life  and  character 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

It  is  manifest  that  Paul  taught  the  same  doctrine 
concerning  the  human  soul,  and  the  mode  and  manner 
of  its  evolution,  that  was  taught  by  Moses,  and  Jesus, 
and  all  the  elect  of  Israel.  He  taught  the  ancient 
wisdom  religion,  the  religion  that  is  founded  upon 
human  nature  itself.  Paul  pointed  to  the  life  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  a  fulfillment  of  the  Law  of  Human  Life. 
"For  we  preach  not  ourselves,  but  Christ  Jesus" 
(2  Cor.  4:5).  He  spoke  of  Christ  as  representing 
"the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God"  (i  Cor. 
1:24).  They  that  are  resurrected  from  the  dead, 
and  are  made  perfect  by  suffering,  represent  "the 
power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God." 

"For  the  Jews  require  a  sign,  and  the  Greeks  seek 
after  wisdom :  But  we  preach  Christ  crucified,  unto  the 


456  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

Jews  a  stumblingblock,  and  unto  the  Greeks  foolishness; 
but  unto  them  which  are  called,  both  Jews  and  Greeks, 
Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God" 
(i  Cor.  1:22-24).  Paul,  like  Jesus,  accused  the  Jews 
of  having  lapsed  into  the  Gentile  state;  they  require 
an  outward  sign;  and  the  Greeks  are  secular  and 
worldly,  and  given  to  speculative  thought.  "But  we 
preach  Christ  crucified";  Christ  is  forever  crucified 
by  the  conceited  and  animalized  spirit  of  the  world. 
"But  to  them  which  are  called  [to  them  that  are 
resurrected],  both  Jews  and  Greeks,"  we  preach  that 
Christ  represents  "the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom 
of  God." 

Paul  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  first  Corinthians 
says  that  "there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same 
Spirit"  is  the  giver  of  all.  To  one  is  given  wisdom, 
illumination,  to  another  knowledge,  to  another  faith, 
to  another  the  gift  of  healing ;  and  thus  after  recounting 
at  some  length  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit,  he  says:  "and 
yet  show  I  unto  you  a  more  excellent  way"  (i  Cor. 
12:31).  Immediately  following  in  the  first  verses  of 
the  next  chapter,  the  thirteenth  of  i  Corinthians, 
Paul  explains  the  "more  excellent  way."  He  would 
have  us  know  that  the  more  excellent  way  is  made 
manifest  in  an  unfeigned  love  of  God  and  of  man. 
"Though  I  [assume  to]  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men 
and  of  angels,  and  have  not  Love,  I  am  become  as 
sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling  cymbal"  (i  Cor.  13: 1-3). 
"Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  Law"  (Rom.  13: 10). 

Paul  would  have  us  know  that  the  two  great  com- 
mandments proclaimed  by  Moses  (Deut.  6 : 4,  5 ;  Levit. 
19:18,  34),  and  affirmed  by  Jesus  (Mark  12:28-31), 
represent  the  end  and  aim  of  religion,  "the  more 
excellent  way."  "And  these  words  which  I  command 


Paul  457 

thee  this  day,  shall  be  in  thine  heart"  (Deut.  6:6). 
"  On  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  Law  and  the 
prophets"  (Matt.  22:40).  How  many  people  have 
read,  and  seriously  contemplated,  the  sixth  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy  and  the  nineteenth  of  Leviticus,  and 
the  twelfth  of  Mark?  It  does  not  seem  that  human 
language  could  more  emphatically  teach  the  Oneness  of 
God,  and  the  unfeigned  love  of  God,  than  the  sixth 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy  and  the  twelfth  of  Mark. 
He  that  hath  in  his  heart  an  unfeigned  love  of  God, 
and  of  his  neighbor,  is  resurrected  from  the  dead,  and 
hath  realized  "the  more  excellent  way."  "We  know 
that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto  life,  because  we 
love  the  brethren.  He  that  loveth  not  his  brother 
abideth  in  death"  (i  John  3:  14). 

He  that  is  faithful  to  conscience  and  reason  is  led 
and  taught  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  for  man  is  possessed  of 
power  and  wisdom  according  to  the  Spirit  of  holiness 
within  him  (Rom  1:4;  I  Kings  3:6;  Ps.  62: 12;  Prov. 
24: 12;  Hosea  12:2;  Job  34:  n).  "If  we  live  in  the 
Spirit,  let  us  walk  in  the  Spirit"  (Gal.  5:25).  "For 
I  delight  in  the  Law  of  God  after  the  inward  man" 
(Rom.  7:22).  Paul  taught,  as  did  the  masters,  that 
man  should  be  governed  from  within,  by  the  inner 
Law,  "the  Law  of  God";  and  not  by  precepts:  com- 
mands and  inhibitions  imposed  from  without.  The 
conduct  of  man  is  uncertain  and  far  from  good  so  long 
as  he  is  in  need  of  government  by  precepts.  Man  is 
only  good  when  he  is  governed  involuntarily  of  the 
Spirit  (John  21 : 18;  I  Kings  18:  12;  Matt.  4:  i).  The 
precepts  of  the  Law  are  many,  but  the  inner  Law, 
the  Law  of  the  Spirit  is  One  (Ps.  37: 31 5  4°: 8)- 

The  mind  which  is  most  godlike  is  most  simple;  the 
mind  is  most  simple  which  is  most  free  from  the  obses- 


458  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

sions  of  the  sensuous  animal  world.  Man  is  dead,  man 
is  asleep,  as  long  as  he  abides  in  the  carnal  sensuous 
state  of  consciousness.  "Jonah  .  .  .  was  fast  asleep. 
So  the  shipmaster  came  to  him,  and  said  unto  him, 
What  meanest  thou,  O  sleeper?  arise,  call  upon  thy  God, 
if  so  be  that  God  will  think  upon  us,  that  we  perish 
not"  (Jonah  1 : 5,  6).  Man  is  not  truly  man  until  his 
mind  in  some  measure  becomes  the  likeness  and  image 
of  his  Creator.  ' '  I  shall  be  satisfied,  when  I  awake,  with 
thy  likeness  "  (Ps.  17:15).  Paul  speaks  of  the  mentality 
of  Jesus  Christ  as  "the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the 
first-born  of  every  creature"  (Col.  1 : 15).  It  stands  to 
reason  that  a  pure  mind  is  the  first-born,  the  highest 
born  of  every  rational  creature,  and  that  it  represents 
the  glory  of  God.  "For  man  indeed  is  the  image  and 
glory  of  God"  (i  Cor.  11:7).  Paul  taught,  as  did 
Peter,  John,  and  James,  that  the  life  and  character  of 
Jesus  Christ  represented  the  simplicity  of  man,  the 
freedom  of  man,  the  liberty  of  man,  and  above  all  the 
indescribable  glory  of  God.  "Stand  fast  therefore 
in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free,  and 
be  not  entangled  again  with  the  yoke  of  bondage" 
(Gal.  5:  i). 

When  the  mind  of  man  is  lifted  up  above  the  things 
of  the  sensuous  animal  world,  when  it  becomes  the 
image  and  likeness  of  its  Creator,  then  is  man  just, 
then  is  man  meek,  then  can  his  conduct  be  predicted. 
But  when  his  affections  are  beguiled  by  the  subtlety 
of  the  serpent,  when  he  falls  a  victim  to  the  seed  of 
Satan:  anger,  hate,  lust,  revenge,  greed,  envy,  malice, 
hypocrisy,  falsehood,  and  superstition,  then  is  his  life 
complex,  sensuous,  and  animalized,  then  his  conduct 
cannot  be  predicted;  and  thus  the  simplicity  that 
was  made  manifest  in  the  life  of  Christ  is  absent.  Paul 


Paul 


459 


told  the  Corinthians  (2  Cor.  11:3),  that  he  feared  that 
the  serpent  would  beguile  Eve,  "so  that  their  minds 
should  be  corrupted  from  the  simplicity  that  is  in 
Christ." 

In  the  drama  of  salvation,  man  lives  first  in  obedience 
to  precepts:  commands  and  inhibitions;  and  lastly,  in 
obedience  to  an  inner  and  a  living  Law,  "the  Law  of  the 
mind"  (Rom.  7:23),  a  Law  so  divine,  so  holy,  so 
perfect,  that  none  can  keep  it;  but  they  who  walk 
with  God.  Man,  would  he  be  a  man,  must  escape 
government  by  precepts,  government  from  without;  he 
must  be  governed  from  within;  he  must  realize  and 
manifest  righteous  self-government.  In  a  word,  he 
must  live  worthy  of  the  One  Living  Law,  the  Law  of 
God,  that  finds  fulfillment  in  the  depths  of  the  human 
soul  itself.  The  soul  of  man  must  conform  to  the 
divine  order,  it  must  be  related  to  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  it  must  be  attuned  to  the  Infinite,  if  it  would  be  an 
organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  would  attain  to  "the 
simplicity  that  is  in  Christ."  It  is  only  when  we 
regard  Joseph,  and  Moses,  and  Jesus,  and  all  the  elect 
of  God,  as  our  elder  brothers,  that  their  lives  become 
real,  and  practicable',  and  comprehensible,  and  imitable. 

James,  a  servant  of  God  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  addressed 
his  letter  "to  the  twelve  tribes  which  are  scattered 
abroad"  (James  I :  i).  Peter,  who  seemingly  occupied 
the  first  place  among  the  disciples  of  Jesus  and  who  was 
the  first  to  "launch  out  into  the  deep,"  and  the  first  to 
be  born  into  the  higher  life,  is  denominated,  "the  apostle 
of  the  circumcision,"  and  Paul,  "the  apostle  of  the 
uncircumcision"  (Gal.  2:7.)  Peter  is  surnamed  Bar- 
jona  (the  son  of  the  dove).  The  dove  is  a  symbol 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar- 
jona:  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto 


460  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  Heaven"  (Matt. 
16: 17).  From  this  we  infer  that  Peter  was  the  first 
to  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit ;  he  was  the 
first  upon  whom  the  dove  descended  (John  3:5), 
the  first  to  be  born  into  the  higher  life. 

"These  twelve  Jesus  sent  forth,  and  commanded 
them,  saying,  Go  not  in  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
into  any  city  of  the  Samaritans  enter  ye  not:  But 
go  rather  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.  And 
as  ye  go,  preach,  saying,  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at 
hand?"  (Matt.  10:5,  6,  7).  The  name  Samaria  means 
"the  land  of  the  nations,"  the  land  of  a  mixed  people. 
Jesus  regarded  the  Jewish  people  of  his  day  as  superior 
to  the  Gentiles;  for  all  of  his  disciples  were  Jews; 
and  he  advised  the  people  to  conform  to  the  teachings 
of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  but  not  to  their  con- 
duct (Matt.  23:  1-3).  In  a  word,  Jesus  regarded  the 
Pharisees  of  his  time  as  false  and  hypocritical  in  this, 
that  they  taught  correct  doctrine,  but  failed  to  live 
worthy  of  it.  "Did  not  Moses  give  you  the  Law, 
yet  none  of  you  keepeth  the  Law?  Why  go  you  about 
to  kill  me?"  (John  7: 19).  The  Pharisees  taught  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  "I  am  a  Pharisee,  the  son 
of  a  Pharisee:  of  the  hope  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead  I  am  called  in  question"  (Acts  23:6).  "Why 
should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  with  you,  that 
God  should  raise  the  dead?"  (Acts  26:  8). 

It,  therefore,  seems  plain  that  the  twelve,  they 
"of  the  circumcision, "  they  who  seek  "the  lost  sheep  of 
the  house  of  Israel,"  are  of  those  who  live  and  teach 
the  "common  faith"  (Titus  1:4)  of  Israel;  they  are 
those  who  abide  in  "the  hope  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead."  The  true  teachers  of  religion  are  the  resurrected. 
"Salvation  is  of  the  Jews"  (John  4:22).  Salvation 


Paul  461 

is  of  the  resurrected.    The  restoration  of  Israel  is  the 

first  requisite  toward  the  salvation  of  mankind.  "Israel 
is  my  son,  even  my  first-born"  (Ex.  4:22).  "Elias 
must  first  come  .  .  .  and  restore  all  things"  (Matt. 
17: 10,  11).  Israel  restored,  Israel  resurrected,  is  the 
nucleus  necessary  to  the  reformation  of  the  people  of 
the  world.  "In  Abraham  shall  all  families  of  the 
earth  be  blessed"  (Gen.  12 :  3).  "But  unto  the  wicked 
God  saith,  What  hast  thou  to  do  to  declare  my  statutes, 
or  that  thou  shouldst  take  my  covenant  into  thy  mouth? 
Seeing  that  thou  hatest  instruction,  and  casteth  my 
words  behind  thee?"  (Ps.  50:  16). 

The  wicked,  the  sensuous,  the  dead,  are  not  called 
of  God  to  teach  "the  holy  scriptures,  which  are  able 
to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  that  faith 
which  was  made  manifest  in  Jesus  Christ"  (2  Tim. 
3:  15).  The  truth,  the  word  of  God  is  not  in  the 
mouth  of  the  wicked;  but  it  is  in  the  mouth  of  the 
"living,"  of  the  resurrected;  it  is  in  the  mouth  of 
Abraham  and  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob  (Matt.  22:31, 
32).  This  recalls  the  parable  of  the  tribute-money. 
It  is  written  that  Simon  Bar-jona  (the  son  of  the 
dove)  found  the  tribute-money  in  the  mouth  of  a  fish 
(Matt.  17:24-27).  The  fish  drawn  out  of  the  water 
is  a  symbol  of  the  resurrection  of  man,  and  the  tribute- 
money  of  the  divine  word.  The  word  of  God  is  found 
in  the  mouth  of  the  resurrected,  in  the  mouth  of  him 
upon  whom  the  dove  hath  descended.  The  glory  of 
religion  and  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  the  lives  of 
the  resurrected.  "I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life." 
Peter,  it  would  seem,  was  the  first  of  Jesus'  disciples 
to  find  the  tribute-money.  "God  hath  spoken  by  the 
mouth  of  his  holy  prophets  which  have  been  since  the 
world  began"  (Luke  1 :  70;  Neh.  9: 30;  2  Kings  17: 13). 


462  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

"There  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd"  (John 
10 : 1 6).  All  the  righteous  are  of  one  fold,  the  fold  of 
Israel,  and  are  led  and  taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
One  Shepherd  of  all  the  sheep.  The  resurrected  are 
they  that  feed  the  sheep,  that  dispense  the  divine 
word.  "So  when  they  had  dined,  Jesus  saith  unto 
Simon  Peter,  Simon,  the  son  of  Jonas  [the  son  of  the 
dove],  lovest  thou  me  more  than  these?  He  saith 
unto  him,  Yea,  Lord;  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee. 
He  saith  unto  him,  Feed  my  lambs"  (John  21 : 15-18). 
This  command  of  Jesus  in  the  form  of  a  question  is 
emphasized;  for  it  is  thrice  asked,  and  thrice  answered. 
"  Lovest  thou  me  more  than  these."  The  love  of  God, 
and  the  love  of  man  is  what  constitutes  one  a  true 
keeper  of  the  sheep;  the  resurrected,  the  sons  of  God, 
are  they  that  make  manifest  the  "power  of  God,  and 
the  wisdom  of  God"  (i  Cor.  1:24).  Jesus  Christ 
was  "declared  to  be  the  son  of  God  with  power,  accord- 
ing to  the  spirit  of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead"  (Rom.  1:4). 

Paul,  "a  Pharisee,  the  son  of  a  Pharisee"  (Acts 
23 :  6)  and  who  believed  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
is  sent  "far  hence  unto  the  Gentiles"  (Acts  22:  21) ;  he 
is  the  apostle  of  "the  uncircumcision "  (Gal.  2:7);  he  is 
commissioned  to  carry  the  "common  faith"  of  Israel 
to  the  Gentiles  to  the  end  that  they  also  may  be  led 
to  the  fold  of  Israel  to  the  One  Shepherd.  "Behold 
my  servant,  Mine  Elect,  in  whom  My  Soul  delighteth; 
/  have  put  My  Spirit  upon  him:  he  shall  bring  forth 
judgment  to  the  Gentiles"  (Isa.  42:  i).  The  soul  of 
God  is  said  to  hate  the  wicked  and  violent.  "The 
Lord  trieth  the  righteous :  but  the  wicked  and  him  that 
loveth  violence  His  soul  hateth"  (Ps.  11:5).  The 
twelve  that  Jesus  sent  forth  sought  first  "the  lost 


Paul  463 

sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel";  they  sought  "them  that 
were  nigh"  (Eph.  2: 17);  they  sought  "a  people  near 
unto  God"  (Ps.  148: 14),  but  Paul  was  specially  com- 
missioned to  preach  to  them ' '  which  were  afar  off  "  (Eph. 
2:17).  All  truth  is  of  God.  "  I  create  the  fruit  of  the 
lips;  Peace,  peace  to  him  that  is  far  off,  and  to  him  that 
is  near,  saith  the  Lord;  and  I  will  heal  him.  But  the 
wicked  are  like  the  troubled  sea,  when  it  can  not  rest, 
whose  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt.  There  is  no 
peace,  saith  my  God,  to  the  wicked"  (Isa.  57: 19-21.) 

The  literature  of  the  Bible,  or  rather  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Scriptures,  were  given  to  the  people 
of  the  world  by  the  resurrected.  They  are  the  organs  of 
the  Holy  Spirit;  they  of  this  high  and  holy  fraternity 
teach  the  same  doctrine;  or  rather,  the  Spirit  hath 
spoken  the  same  doctrine  through  them.  Truth  is  a 
manifestation  of  the  Spirit;  truth  is  given  by  the 
Spirit.  "All  Scripture  is  given  by  the  inspiration  of 
God"  (2  Tim.  3:16). 

The  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  realization 
of  His  kingdom  in  the  soul  of  man,  is  a  central  idea  of 
the  sons  of  God,  of  the  resurrected;  but  the  day  and 
hour  when  this  high  and  holy  state  of  consciousness  is 
realized  in  the  soul  of  man,  is  not  known  even  to  the 
angels  of  Heaven,  neither  to  the  son  of  man,  "but  the 
Father  only"  (Matt.  24:36;  Mark  13:32;  Mai.  3:  i). 
"Therefore  be  ye  ready,  for  in  an  hour  that  ye  know 
not,  the  son  of  man  cometh"  (Matt.  24:44;  Luke  12: 
35,  36;  Eph.  6: 14).  The  great  are  they  who  realize 
the  Kingdom  of  God  while  abiding  in  the  flesh.  "But 
I  tell  you  of  a  truth,  there  are  some  standing  here,  which 
shall  not  taste  death,  till  they  see  the  Kingdom  of 
God"  (Luke  9:  27;  Matt.  16:28;  Mark  9:  i). 

The  fundamental  principles  of  religion  taught  in  the 


464  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

New  Testament  Scriptures  are  identical  with  those  of 
the  Old;  they  are  in  harmony  with  all  truth;  for  truth  is 
of  God.  "Order  is  Truth,"  said  Thomas  Carlyle. 
Truth  is  revealed  in  the  divine  order.  All  the  faithful 
revelations  of  science  are  aids  to  religion;  for  truth  is 
indispensable  to  human  salvation.  It  is  the  truth 
that  makes  the  Mind  and  soul  of  man  clean  (John 
I5-3)-  It  is  the  truth  that  liberates  man  from  the 
thralldom  of  ignorance,  and  makes  him  free.  "Know 
the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free"  (John 
8:32). 

What  is  religion  for?  The  end  and  aim  of  religion 
is  the  perfection  of  the  Mind  and  soul  of  man.  Man, 
Manas,  Mentality,  is  put  into  the  human  soul,  "into 
the  Garden  of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it"  (Gen.  2 : 
15).  Man  is  made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  his 
Creator;  and  is  given  dominion  over  all  below  him,  over 
all  things  in  the  animal  world  (Gen.  1:26;  Ps.  8:6); 
and  thus  he  is  made  a  co-worker  with  God  (i  Cor.  3:9), 
in  the  attainment  of  his  own  perfection.  The  word  of 
God  is  given  that  "ye  may  stand  perfect  and  complete, 
and  in  accord,  with  the  will  of  God"  (Col.  4:12; 
Gen.  17:  i;  Matt.  5:48;  Lev.  11:44;  J9:2)-  Truth  is 
revealed  in  the  divine  order;  and  when  the  soul  of  man 
is  attuned  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  Kingdom  of 
Order,  then  it  is  that  he  makes  manifest  the  will  of 
God.  The  truth  of  religion,  the  verity  of  the  divine 
word,  is  not  a  matter  of  speculation,  for  it  is  taught 
and  demonstrated  in  the  lives  of  the  resurrected,  in 
the  lives  of  the  just.  "Because  that  which  may  be 
known  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  the  lives  of  the 
just;  for  God  hath  showed  it  unto  them"  (Rom.  1 : 19). 
"Moreover,  as  for  me,  God  forbid  that  I  should  sin 
against  the  Lord  in  ceasing  to  pray  for  you:  but  I  will 


Paul 


465 


teach  you  the  good  and  the  right  way:  Only  fear  the 
Lord,  and  serve  him  in  truth  with  all  your  heart:  for 
consider  what  great  things  he  hath  done  for  you" 
(i  Sam.  12 :  23,  24).  The  resurrected  are  they  that  live 
and  teach  "the  good  and  the  right  way."  "I  am  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life:  no  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father,  but  by  me"  (John  14:  6). 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  God  hath  committed  all 
judgment  unto  the  Son,  unto  the  Mind  of  man.  Man  is 
endowed  with  the  capacity  to  judge,  to  choose,  between 
good  and  evil,  between  life  and  death.  "I  call  heaven 
and  earth  to  record  this  day  against  you,  that  I  set 
before  you  life  and  death,  good  and  evil:  therefore, 
choose  life,  choose  good"  (Deut.  30:15,  19).  The 
weal  or  woe  of  man  depends  upon  the  use  he  makes  of 
the  mentality  God  has  given  him.  He  that  is  faithful 
to  his  light  shall  have  more;  but  he  that  is  unfaithful 
shall  have  his  light  taken  away  (Matt.  25:29;  Rev. 
2:5).  Mentality  is  given  that  man  may  make  his  soul 
the  chaste  temple  of  the  living  God.  "If  any  man 
defile  the  temple,  him  shall  God  destroy"  (i  Cor. 
3: 17).  Every  rational  being  is  charged  with  Heaven 
imposed  duties.  Man  is  godlike  or  satanic,  according 
as  he  chooses.  Man  is  to  take  counsel  of  God,  and 
not  of  Satan.  "Get  thee  hence,  Satan :  for  it  is  written, 
Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  Him  only 
shalt  thou  worship  "  (Matt.  4: 10;  Deut.  6: 13).  "For 
the  Father  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all 
judgment  unto  the  Son,"  unto  the  Mind  of  man  (John 
5:22;  Matt.  11:27). 

It  is  the  Law  that  fixes  responsibility;  it  is  the  Law 
that  points  the  way  of  life  and  of  good;  and  of  evil  and 
of  death.  "I  had  not  known  sin,  but  by  the  Law" 
(Rom.  7:7).  "  Whosoever  committeth  sin  transgresseth 


466  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

the  Law:  for  sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  Law" 
(i  John  3:4).  Every  observance  of  Heaven's  Law  is 
rewarded,  and  every  transgression  is  punished.  ' '  Think 
not  that  I  shall  accuse  you  to  the  Father:  there  is  one 
that  accuseth  you,  even  Moses,  in  whom  ye  trust. 
For  had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed 
me  :for  he  wrote  of  me.  But  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings, 
how  shall  ye  believe  my  words?"  (John  5:45-47). 
The  Law  bespeaks  the  divine  order  to  which  every 
human  soul  should  conform.  "The  Law  of  the  Lord 
is  perfect,  restoring  the  soul:  the  testimony  of  the  Lord 
is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple"  (Ps.  19:7).  The 
testimony  is  the  revelation  of  the  Law.  The  Law  is 
revealed  in  the  life,  and  in  the  words  of  the  resurrected. 
"For  had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed 
me:  for  he  wrote  of  me."  Moses  wrote  of  each  and 
every  human  soul.  "To  the  Law  and  the  Testimony: 
if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word,  it  is  because 
there  is  no  light  [wisdom]  in  them"  (Isa.  8: 20). 

He  that  believes  in  the  high  and  holy  possibilities 
of  Man,  and  lives  worthy  of  his  godlike  capacities,  is 
destined  to  attain  to  the  higher  life,  the  spiritual  life; 
but  he  that  persists  in  leading  a  false  and  wicked  life,  is 
destined  to  unutterable  woe.  "He  that  believeth  on 
the  Son  [he  that  believes  in  the  divinity  of  his  own 
mind,  and  lives  worthy  of  it]  hath  everlasting  life:  and 
he  that  believeth  not  on  the  Son  shall  not  see  life ;  but 
the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him"  (John  3: 36;  6:47). 
He  th,at  is  faithful  to  his  own  soul,  to  "the  inward 
man,  is  renewed  day  by  day"  (2  Cor.  4:  16;  3:18). 
Man  has  as  much  faith  in  God  as  there  is  virtue  in  him. 
"  The  righteousness  of  God  is  revealed  from  faith  to 
faith:  as  it  is  written,  The  just  shall  live  by  faith" 
(Rom.  i:  17). 


Paul  467 

Wisdom  says  that  God  is  Good, 
That  He  is  known  by  what  He  is. 
Let  man  from  wiles  and  conceits  flee; 
And  seek  by  righteousness  to  see. 

Paul  tells  us  that  man  is  a  co-worker  with  God  in  the 
perfection  of  his  own  life,  and  in  the  moral  uplift  of 
others  (i  Cor.  3:9;  2  Cor.  6:  i),  "but  God  giveth  the 
increase."  Paul  would  have  us  know  that  it  is  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  the  souls  of  men  that  is  to  reform 
the  world.  "By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am :  and 
His  grace  which  was  bestowed  upon  me  was  not  in 
vain ;  for  I  laboured  more  abundantly  than  they  all :  yet 
not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  which  was  with  me" 
(i  Cor.  15:  10).  It  would  seem  that  Paul  established 
many  religious  societies,  or  churches.  Speaking  in  an 
outward  sense  there  are  many  churches,  but  in  an  in- 
ward, and  spiritual  sense  there  is  but  one  Church,  but 
"one  fold,"  and  one  Shepherd  of  the  sheep.  The 
Church,  the  true  Church,  the  Church  invisible,  is  not 
an  organization  of  the  world.  It  is  a  fraternity,  a 
brotherhood.  It  represents  that  great  body  of  persons 
carnate  and  disincarnate  who  have  so  far  lived  above 
the  sensuous  carnal  spirit  of  the  world  as  to  be  organs 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  They  of  this  fraternity  "are  no 
more  strangers  and  foreigners  to  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
but  fellow-citizens  with  the  saints."  They  of  this 
brotherhood  are  likened  to  a  temple  "fitly  framed 
together";  and  thus  they  "are  builded  together  for  an 
habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit"(Eph.  2: 18-22). 
"I  will  declare  Thy  name  unto  my  brethren;  in  the 
midst  of  the  Church  [the  congregation,  the  fraternity], 
will  I  sing  praise  unto  Thee"  (Ps.  22:  22).  "But  ye 
are  come  unto  Mount  Sion  [the  Church,  the  fraternity 


468  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  the  just],  and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God"  (Heb. 
12:22).  The  visible  church  of  Israel,  or  of  Christ,  is  a 
congregation  of  faithful  people  who  seek  to  know  the 
truth,  and  to  live  and  act  worthy  of  it ;  and  who  rever- 
ently recognize  that  all  truth  and  reality  is  of  God. 

It  is  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man  that  con- 
stitutes him  an  "overseer  to  feed  the  Church  of  God" 
(Acts  20:28).  The  son  of  the  dove,  the  son  of  the 
Spirit,  is  the  true  overseer  of  the  sheep.  Fitness,  or 
qualification,  for  this  high  and  holy  office  is  not  given 
or  bestowed  of  men,  or  of  institutions.  "For  it  is  God 
that  giveth  the  increase."  This  Heaven-descended 
office  can  only  be  fittingly  filled  by  him  whose  soul  is 
related  to  the  Kingdom  of  God.  "Simon,  the  son  of 
Jonas,"  is  the  true  type  of  the  overseer  of  the  sheep 
(John  21:17).  It  is  the  Holy  Spirit  that  leads  and 
teaches  and  lights  the  way  of  God's  elect.  "The 
nations  of  them  that  are  saved  shall  walk  in  the  Light 
of  It"  (Rev.  21:24),  and  the  "gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  It"  (Matt.  16:  18).  "For  I  have 
laboured,"  says  Paul,  "more  abundantly  than  they 
all:  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  which  was  with 
me."  Paul,  like  all  the  elect  of  Israel,  taught  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  is  in  the  hearts  of  the  faithful.  "God 
is  in  you  of  a  truth"  (i  Cor.  14:25;  Zech.  8:23;  Gen. 
41 :  38).  "Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  [the  abiding 
place  of  God],  is  with  men,  and  He  will  dwell  with 
them"  (Rev.  21:3).  How  these  inspiring  ideas 
harmonize  with  the  intuitive  flashes  of  the  illustrious 
Emerson:  "All  writing  comes  by  grace  of  God,  and 
all  doing  and  having.  I  can  see  nothing  at  last  in 
success  or  failure  than  more  or  less  of  vital  force  sup- 
plied by  the  Eternal."  The  Spirit  of  God  imposes 
the  highest  obligation.  None  are  at  liberty  to  disobey 


Paul  469 

It.  "Necessity  is  laid  upon  me;  yea,  woe  is  unto  me, 
if  I  preach  not  the  gospel"  (i  Cor.  9: 16). 

Unity  and  brotherhood  represented  in  the  Church  of 
God  are  not  possible  among  unrelated  souls.  Souls 
that  are  related  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  God's  kingdom, 
represent  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood 
of  man.  Every  brotherhood  otherwise  founded  is  but 
an  imitation  of  this  celestial  fraternity.  The  Kingdom 
of  God  does  not  partake  of  the  nature  of  sensuous 
things,  but  of  the  Divinity.  "The  Kingdom  of  God 
is  not  meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness,  and  peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost"  (Rom.  14:  17).  This 
glorious  kingdom  transcends  the  things  of  the  sensuous 
animal  world.  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world, 
if  my  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  ser- 
vants fight."  The  sensuous  power,  or  force  of  the 
world,  is  controlled  of  the  old  animal  god  Satan.  It 
is  "delivered unto  me;  and  to  whomsoever  I  will  I  give 
it"  (Luke 4: 6). 

Men  or  institutions  cannot  qualify  man  to  be  an 
overseer  of  the  sheep,  except  in  the  most  outward 
way.  It  is  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man  that 
represents  religious  authority  and  power;  all  else  is  but 
an  imitation  and  a  passing  show.  "For  the  King- 
dom of  God  is  not  in  words,  but  in  power"  (i  Cor. 
4:20).  Broadly  speaking,  it  would  seem  that  there 
are  but  three  religious  orders:  first  the  Levites;  sec- 
ondly, the  priesthood,  the  order  of  Aaron ;  and  lastly 
the  order  of  Melchisedec.  According  to  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  the  Levites  were  priests  in 
making;  in  a  sense,  every  priest  was  a  Levite,  but 
every  Levite  was  not  a  priest.  The  principal  office  of 
the  Levites  was  to  wait  upon  the  priests;  and  to  assist 
them  in  the  service  of  the  tabernacle,  or  in  the  service 


47°  The  Law  of  Human  Life 

of  the  temple  which  supplanted  the  tabernacle  when 
the  children  of  Israel  had  attained  to  a  settled  abode 
in  the  promised  land. . 

The  deacons  in  the  churches  organized  by  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  corresponded  to  the  Levites;  the  elders,  the 
presbyters,  and  bishops,  to  the  priesthood,  the  order  of 
Aaron ;  but  the  third,  or  last  order,  the  order  of  Melchis- 
edec,  remains  the  same  forever.  It  is  "an  unchange- 
able priesthood  consecrated  for  evermore"  (Heb.  7: 
24,  28).  The  first  two  orders  above  named  represent 
means  to  an  end,  but  the  last  order  represents  an  end 
in  itself.  He  who  is  a  good  deacon  hath  "earned  a 
good  degree"  (i  Tim.  3:13);  he  hath  taken  "an  honour- 
able step."  The  elders  and  presbyters,  like  the  priests 
of  Israel,  were  overseers,  and  were  commanded  to 
"feed  the  flock  of  God"  (i  Peter  5:2).  In  the  days 
of  Jesus  and  his  disciples,  civil  government,  as  now, 
arrogated  to  itself  the  right  to  inflict  pains  and  penalties 
for  overt  acts  of  wrong;  but  Jesus  and  his  disciples 
did  not  assume  to  usurp  the  power  of  Caesar.  Their 
discipline  consisted  in  "admonitions,"  "reproofs," 
"sharp  rebukes,"  and  finally,  if  necessary,  "exorcism 
from  the  society"  (i  Cor.  5:13).  None  but  the 
spiritual,  none  but  the  meek,  none  but  the  self-governing 
and  righteous  are  fit  to  administer  the  discipline  of  the 
congregation.  "Ye  which  are  spiritual,  restore  such 
an  one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness"  (Gal.  6:  i). 

Nothing,  it  would  seem,  that  Jesus  or  his  disciples 
did,  was  intended  to  be  subversive  of  the  ideas  and 
principles  of  the  religion  of  ancient  Israel,  but  all  was 
done,  to  use  the  language  of  Paul,  "after  [the  manner 
of]  the  common  faith"  (Titus  1:4).  Paul,  near  the 
end  of  his  life  in  the  world,  when  a  prisoner  in  the 
hands  of  the  Romans,  denied  that  he  had  done  any 


Paul  471 

thing  subversive  of  the  customs  of  the  fathers  of  Israel. 
"After  three  days  Paul  called  the  chief  of  the  Jews 
together:  and  he  said  unto  them,  Men  and  brethren, 
though  I  have  committed  nothing  against  the  people, 
or  customs  of  our  fathers,  yet  was  I  delivered  a  prisoner 
from  Jerusalem  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans"  (Acts 
28:17). 

THE  END 


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